Open Source Worse than Flying

george writes "In an article published on TheRegister, Otto Z. Stern makes the bold statement that "The only thing as goat-rendering awful as flying has to be the progression of open source code." Accusing Open Source of being buggy and its devolopers of preoccupation with mudane details."I'm sitting here...wondering when the Linux freaks are going to solve their Ubuntu versus Mandriva color scheme debate or maybe even write a printer driver so that something I buy actually works with my open sores PC.""

Comments

Otis Stern is just upset because

[Anonymous Coward]

Open Source stole his initials.

Re:Otis Stern is just upset because

[jcr]

Seriously!

Besides, what's this guy's problem anyway? He's got the source, why doesn't he just fix the bugs?

-jcr

Re:Otis Stern is just upset because

[maxwell demon]

We're not all typing obscure commands in consoles all day, you know :)

Indeed, I'm usually typing obscure commands sitting on a chair in front of the monitor and keyboard. I would hate it to be locked into a console when typing obscure commands.

Ah, and of course I'm also not typing obscure commands all day. After all, I need some time to read Slashdot!

Now, having said that, the Slashdot interface clearly leaves something to desire, even when using Lynx. Why is there no true modular command line interface? I would think of something along the lines of

$ slashdot ls
Glide File Sharing Service Debuts
Your Rights Online: Consumer Strikes Back at Crooked Online Retailer
IT: Open Source Worse than Flying
(etc.)
$ slashdot st IT
slashdot: IT: ambiguous story.
$ slashdot ls IT\*
IT: Open Source Worse than Flying
IT: Security Flaws Allow Wiretaps to be Evaded
$ slashdot st 'IT: O'
george writes "In an article published on TheRegister, Otto Z. Stern makes the
bold statement that "The only thing as goat-rendering awful as flying has to be
the progression of open source code." Accusing Open Source of being buggy and
its devolopers of preoccupation with mudane details."I'm sitting
here...wondering when the Linux freaks are going to solve their Ubuntu versus
Mandriva color scheme debate or maybe even write a printer driver so that
something I buy actually works with my open sores PC.""
$ slashdot sl 'IT: O'
total: 1
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/29/otto_fl y_open/ Accusing Open Source
$ slashdot cs 'IT: O'
total: 464
-1: 8
0: 102
1: 96
2: 173
3: 21
4: 12
5: 52
$

SCNR

Re:Otis Stern is just upset because

[indifferent children]

Unlike you I get windows shoved down my throat at work.

Ooh, that's a pane in the neck.

Sore PC

[yuckymucky]

He should get that "open sores" PC checked out. That doesn't sound good at all.

Re:Sore PC

[(H)elix1]

He should get that "open sores" PC checked out. That doesn't sound good at all.

I hear you can get that type of problem if you don't practice safe hex...

Re:Sore PC

[YU Nicks NE Way]

We don't use the phrase "safe hex" any more. The more PC term these days is "safer sectors".

Open Sores?

[Frogbert]

If your PC is giving you open sores perhaps you should stop rubbing up against it so hard.

Re:Open Sores?

[somethinghollow]

but UDP never felt so good!

Ugh.

[Anonymous Coward]

Another thing that is goat-rendering awful is this story.

what a flamer

[John Frink]

"The only thing as goat-rendering awful as flying has to be the progression of open source code." I'm a pilot who happens to like flying as well as open source so screw him!

Re:what a flamer

[FryerTuck]

yes, but do you render goats?

one thing's for sure...

[pohl]

If this were fark, this would be the perfect thread to link to the 'attention whore' girl in the bikini doing hand-stands on the beach.

Re:Linux will never progress very far

[nukem996]

Whats so bad about X11? Im using x.org right now and everything is working fine. If I loaded KDE on here I could customize it to look basicly like OSX. I never understood why they took out X11, seems like it would make more sense to keep it.

Wow

[Anonymous Coward]

This man must be the UK's answer to John Dvorak!

Re:Buggy Browsers

[Dante Shamest]

I submitted a patch to fix the Firefox name bug, on the basis that it's hard for someone to tell that it's the name of a browser. I suggested renaming the browser to something more marketable, such as Internet Explorer Improved or Internet Surfer or even Free Money, Click Here!.

Got no replies. =(

Re:jeeesus

[Comatose51]

I deserve to be heard because I'm an idiot too so mod me up!

All I have to say is close source is better than getting branded by a hot iron. If it was a choice between close source and being branded by a hot iron, I would take close source. At least proprietary software have progressed faster than hot iron branding. Hot iron branding have progressed little since the days of cowboys. You still apply fire to a piece of metal that gets applied to the skin. Proprietary software has definitely progressed beyond that stage.

Re:jeeesus

[David M. Sweeney]

it's just the opinion of one idiot. what the hell is it doing on slashdot?

Man, you MUST be new here.

Re:What is the obsession with printers??

[Anonymous Coward]

I heard of this one hippie guy who was obsessed with buggy printer drivers, but that was something like 30 years ago.

Re:Full of hot air

[Asprin]

Why is it so hard to understand that one of the reasons Windows is so popular is that it handles all of this automatically. I know I can connect my bluetooth camera to it and it will just work.

You mispelled 'Macintosh'.

Just thought you should know.

I don't know

[rsilvergun]

I've read studies where Hot Branding compares favorably against Microsoft's latest license agreement. But maybe they were funded by Hot Branding Zealots.

Re:Full of hot air

[KylePflug]

Having said that, I'm commited to Firefox and had nothing but great luck running Apache (on Windows, not Linux ;-) - so OS is slicker than glossy marketing materials from M$ in many cases, but my experience with Operating Systems is to treat them like guys in suits carrying Bibles and ringing my doorbell.

You spray your operating system with mace and call the police?!?

Re:"Otto Z Stern" is a troll

[ian_mackereth]

What? WHAT?! How dare you cast nasturtiums on this esteemed gathering of minds!

To even suggest that Slashdotters would fall for trollish statements and react hotly to perceived criticism of things we hold dear is... is....

...apparently just what we do.

Re:Linux will never progress very far

[jcr]

If I loaded KDE on here I could customize it to look basicly like OSX

The phrase "lipstick on a pig" springs to mind...

-jcr

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Damnit!

[CitizenJohnJohn]

With the 20 second delay that Slashdot enforces between hitting 'Reply' and 'Submit', it's going to take me at least two hours to post "You have been trolled" to everyone who took this utterly obvious piece of satire at face value.

Re:Oblig. Spelling Nazi

[Reverend528]

Cars produced by apple all have 2 engines, one big one kludged onto a smaller one. Apple's cars have many of the features of a linux vehicle, but you wouldn't know, because everything is hidden under a dashboard that can only be removed with excessive force. The only thing that drivers are granted access to is a steering wheel, which is located in the upper left corner of the car. Because there are no pedals, all apple vehicles drive at the same speed all the time. Apple drivers insist that the speed is "fast" because there are two engines, but many windows and linux drivers debate this.

Despite the absurd usability problems that are created by having only one poorly-placed steering wheel, many Apple users insist that their cars are "more user-friendly". They also insist that they are "thinking differently", despite the fact that all of their cars look exactly the same.

Best Quote Ever

[MrCopilot]

My objective has never been to perpetuate the myth of goodness within the annals of respectability but rather to grab goodness by the gonads and then splatter these nuts of decency against the public wall of justice. In short, I'm after progress, while these others are happy to wallow in the filth of achievements past.

Ewwwwwwwwww. Amusing but ewwww.