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Hans Reiser to Sell Company

DVega writes "Due to increasing legal costs, murder suspect Hans Reiser is seeking to sell his company. His lawyer William DuBois said he is running out of money to pay for his defense. DuBois added, 'This is a unique opportunity for someone to buy the company for pennies on the dollar. We welcome all vultures.' This is a good opportunity to own a filesystem and rename it after your own."

69 of 583 comments (clear)

  1. Heh,, by aero2600-5 · · Score: 4, Funny

    AeroFS.. I bet that would bring a lawsuit from Microsoft..

    Aero

    --
    Please stop hurting America -- Jon Stewart
  2. Nice quote by aztektum · · Score: 3, Funny

    DuBois added, 'This is a unique opportunity for someone to buy the company for pennies on the dollar. We welcome all vultures.'

    There's one hell of a joke about lawyers being vultures themselves, unfortunately the fact that a lawyer of all people said this has rendered my brain unable to make it.

    --
    :: aztek ::
    No sig for you!!
    1. Re:Nice quote by 13bPower · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's even funnier because he has to sell the company to pay the lawyer.

  3. Mising poll option by iriefrank · · Score: 5, Funny

    CowboyNealFS?

  4. Why pay for that? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    er, couldn't you just fork it and rename it whatever you want for free?

    1. Re:Why pay for that? by doom · · Score: 5, Informative
      Anonymous Coward wrote:
      er, couldn't you just fork it and rename it whatever you want for free?

      Provided you licensed it under the GPL, yes, you could do that.

      The copyright holder has additional options, however -- Hans Reiser says that he actually makes some money selling the right to use his file system without telling anyone else that they're using it.

      (Yes I know, but the corporate world is weird.)

      Also, if you RTFM, you'll see that they mention proprietary add-on products, such as a file compressor

    2. Re:Why pay for that? by igb · · Score: 5, Interesting
      Hans Reiser says that he actually makes some money selling the right to use his file system without telling anyone else that they're using it.

      (Yes I know, but the corporate world is weird.)

      I've got one of the machines that is covertly Reiser4 under the hood, I believe. I can see why a vendor would want to keep it quiet, too.
      • Firstly, the admission that you don't own the filesystem (in the sense of employing all the major contributors) is a worry for many customers.
      • Secondly, if you want to put your own secret sauce into the filesystem (perhaps hooking it more intimately into your product's volume management, or providing a shortcut API into your block level IO, or doing extra things for fast failover between control units, or whatever) then you don't want to have to pass this stuff out GPL'd.
      • And finally, if you want to use an otherwise-GPL'd filesystem linked into a non-GPL real-time executive like VxWorks (no relation to VxFS, confusingly) or QNX, having a non-GPL version of the filesystem probably saves everyone a lot of lawyers bills.
      I'm not sure I approve of this as a GPL enthusiast --- hey, I had code on the Emacs 17.61 tape! --- but as a customer I don't think I care too much. You don't get to have much oversight of the components used in products you buy unless you're entering into the wild world of source escrow, and buying a non-GPL'd version of a GPL'd product is no different to the OEM buying something completely closed, and in many ways better (I still get the many-eyes thing, up to a point).

      ian

  5. Obligatory bad joke by nacturation · · Score: 3, Funny

    When Lucas makes a movie about this, be sure to wear your "Hans shot first" t-shirts.

    --
    Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
  6. An opportunity for someone by Nybble's+Byte · · Score: 4, Funny

    to make a killing.

  7. Unintended pun? by BigDumbAnimal · · Score: 5, Funny

    he's seeking to sell off his open-source file system company, Namesys, to help pay mounting legal costs.
    1. Re:Unintended pun? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Well you could say that "mounting" is the root cause of Hans' troubles, in an indirect way :)

  8. This is sad ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If he turns out to be innocent, it will be just that much sadder -- he will have lost his wife and be ruined. A justice system that is so where money often plays such a key role in influencing the outcome is a very disfunctional justice system.

    1. Re:This is sad ... by cheekyboy · · Score: 3, Interesting

      If you win against the govt criminal charges, isnt the govt required to pay all YOUR costs and compensate you for the hassel?

      After all, if YOU LOOSE, you have to pay the government court costs.

      I know its like this for small petty charges in au, or is USA run by evil lawyers?

      --
      Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
    2. Re:This is sad ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      actually, I thought the opposite. It's sad that someone may be able to buy his way out of a murder conviction and walk away a free man.

    3. Re:This is sad ... by tonyr1988 · · Score: 5, Insightful
      or is USA run by evil lawyers?
      You must be new here.
    4. Re:This is sad ... by shystershep · · Score: 4, Informative

      Um, no to both the first two (yes to the evil lawyer thing). You don't have to pay a dime of the government's court costs, win or lose. And you have a right to a free lawyer if you can't afford one.

      --
      The bigotry of the nonbeliever is for me nearly as funny as the bigotry of the believer. - Albert Einstein
    5. Re:This is sad ... by theMerovingian · · Score: 5, Funny


      A truck driver frequently traveled through a small town where there was a courthouse at the side of the road. Of course, there were always lawyers walking along the road. The truck driver made it a practice to hit any pedestrian lawyers with his truck as he sped by.

      One day, he spotted a priest walking along the road and stopped to give him a ride. A little further along, as he approached the town, he spotted a lawyer walking along the side of the road.

      Automatically, he veered his truck towards the lawyer, but...then he remembered his passenger. He swerved back to the center, but he heard a "whump" and in the rear view mirror he spotted the lawyer rolling across the field.

      He turned to the priest and said, "Father, I'm sure that I missed that lawyer!"

      And the priest replied, "That's OK, my son, I got him with the door.

      --
      "If you think you have things under control, you're not going fast enough." --Mario Andretti
    6. Re:This is sad ... by powerlinekid · · Score: 5, Informative

      From the evidence it doesn't look like hes very innocent.

      Blood found in his mother's house and a sleeping bag found in his car match his former wife's

      Prior history of aggression toward her which led to a restraining order.

      A motive in that he has been trying to get custody of his children and they will not give them to him.

      And of course this gem from SFgate:

      Hans Reiser's Honda was missing its front passenger seat when police seized it Sept. 19, Cavness testified in an Oakland courtroom. After technicians removed the carpeting from the front seat area, they noticed that the floorboard had been saturated with water, Cavness said.

      Inside the car, police found a 40-piece socket set, Cavness said. The tools appeared to have been used to remove four bolts that had been used to attach the passenger seat to the floor, she said.

      Also found inside the car, according to police, was a roll of trash bags, masking tape, a siphon pump, absorbent towels and two books: "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets," by David Simon, about the Baltimore police homicide squad, and "Masterpieces of Murder," by Jonathan Goodman, about notorious murder cases.


      All in all, I'd say its not looking good for him.

      --

      can't sleep slashdot will eat me
    7. Re:This is sad ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
      Also found inside the car, according to police, was a roll of trash bags, masking tape, a siphon pump, absorbent towels and two books: "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets," by David Simon, about the Baltimore police homicide squad, and "Masterpieces of Murder," by Jonathan Goodman, about notorious murder cases.

      Apparently there was nothing in those books about disposing of evidence.

    8. Re:This is sad ... by illuminatedwax · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That actually sounds really suspicious - the addition of the books is way too much.

      --
      Did you ever notice that *nix doesn't even cover Linux?
    9. Re:This is sad ... by powerlinekid · · Score: 4, Insightful

      My thought exactly...

      Its especially interesting because hes supposed to be a smart guy. You'd think the last thing you want to do is purchase a book about homicide investigations when you think you're the main suspect in a homicide investigation.

      Yeah yeah, maybe he wanted to know how to procede and was honestly curious in a non-sinister way. It still looks extremely suspicious.

      --

      can't sleep slashdot will eat me
    10. Re:This is sad ... by Anonymous+Freak · · Score: 5, Informative

      As has been said, nope.

      Win or lose, you pay your own lawyer fees (which, if you go with the court-appointed attorney, is free,) and any fine. The fine is *NOT* considered paying back court costs, it is a deterrent.

      And you can only get your money back (and compensation for the hassle,) if you sue the government for wrongful prosecution and win. Basically, you have to prove that the government charged you when they knew you were innocent. (i.e. if they charge someone with murder, knowing full well that the accused didn't do it, because they know that the accused knows who did it. So they are charging one person with murder SOLELY to get that person to break and testify against someone else.) The trick, of course, is PROVING that the government KNEW that you were innocent. If they had even the slightest shred of circumstantial evidence, it can be hard to win one of these cases. (I was on a jury for one of these once. It was rather obvious that the government PROBABLY knew, but that wasn't enough to find against the government. The judge's instructions were very clear.)

      --
      Another non-functioning site was "uncertainty.microsoft.com."
      The purpose of that site was not known.
    11. Re:This is sad ... by jesboat · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's not sad at all that he should be able to buy his way out of a murder conviction if he's innocent.

      It'll be sad if he buys his way out of the conviction when he's guilty, but we don't know that he's guilty yet.

      It's saddest for you to assume that he's guilty and if he'd need to buy his way out of a murder conviction if he's innocent.

    12. Re:This is sad ... by ozbird · · Score: 5, Funny

      All in all, I'd say its not looking good for him.

      Are you sure? Try this Cluedo on for size: "Mr Ballmer, in the Honda, with the front seat."

    13. Re:This is sad ... by networkBoy · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Apparently there was nothing in those books about disposing of evidence."

      To be fair, it would appear that there was no direct evidence in the car. Problem is, like most ultra-super-uber-freaky_cool-keen-whazit geeks he attacked the problem programatically, and the circumstancial evidence was an unhandled exception. Talk about kernal panic!
      -nB

      --
      whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
    14. Re:This is sad ... by rastos1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The point is that "you can afford one" as long as you have any property. You have to spend it all, before you are entitled to ex-offo. When all is said and done, you are left with nothing. Even if you win.

    15. Re:This is sad ... by asuffield · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The really sad part is that if he's found guilty, the system will still be just as broken, but people will think it's fair. Which is why the system remains broken.

    16. Re:This is sad ... by mabhatter654 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      he knew for several days the police were going to investigate him...he had plenty of time to clean these things up! leaving sloppy evidence like book and tools in the car doesn't make sense. The wife was also known for playing very dirty also and milking it for all it was worth before the divorce was final(the sfgate news mentioned that earlier in the case) She did the usual "husband is beating me" routine but as they described it, it was almost fake (impression from news at the time)... but of course police take the report out on the MAN's fault, and because of that HE has to move out of his house, and HE can't have the kids.. even though everybody KNOWS the reports of abuse are fake or not fully true. She was cheating on him...in his house! and he had to get a new one. She was killed when the kids were with him... that almost points to the boyfriend as the suspect or a paid hit. It's almost like the OJ thing.. the setup evidence is almost TOO good... but pinning the suspect to the actual crime doesn't fit the time tables of where the POLICE say everybody was at. It's like the ex-wife did all the hard work to set the guy up as a bad guy for the divorce, but was living the wild life with somebody else... it's like a gift-wrapped mob hit and the police are falling for it while they have coffee with the real killer at the doughnut shop.

      I'm not saying he couln't have done it, but it's like the OJ case.. soon we'll be finding the police lab "embelished" some reports...mislabled where evidence came from...etc. once that happens, the police have failed to do their duty of running a clean show and you HAVE to let him go not knowing if the police lied, or just did crappy work. His reputation is stained forever, So they just bleed him dry with legal fees and call it good. Nobody gets BANNED from law enforcement for deliberately screwing up the trial!!! That's what's sick with the whole system right now.

    17. Re:This is sad ... by oo · · Score: 5, Informative

      ...The judge's instructions were very clear.)

      Please don't forget that a judge's instructions are worthless and that you as a member of the jury have all the power and the final say. You have the power to decide whether a law is just or unjust and are free to ignore it and do as you wish. Anything that comes out of the judge's mouth means diddly-squat. What the law says means diddly-squat. You create the law if you're on a jury.

      Google for "jury nullification" if you want more info.

    18. Re:This is sad ... by CoderDevo · · Score: 4, Funny

      Also found inside the car, according to police, was a roll of trash bags, masking tape, a siphon pump, absorbent towels and two books: "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets," by David Simon, about the Baltimore police homicide squad, and "Masterpieces of Murder," by Jonathan Goodman, about notorious murder cases.

      Lastly, a box containing the first two drafts of "How I did it," by Hans Reiser.

    19. Re:This is sad ... by ComputerSlicer23 · · Score: 4, Informative
      I forget the legal term for it, but I believe a judge can set aside a jury verdict also. It's also leaving the judge open to review, and is likely to be grounds for a mistrial, retrial or appeal (whatever the appropriate legal term is). So it works both ways.


      Kirby

    20. Re:This is sad ... by powerlinekid · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Basic timeline...

      September 3rd: She goes Missing
      September 8th: He buys the books
      September 12th: He gets pulled over and police note he has a passenger seat.
      September 19th: They impound his car, this time passenger seat is gone.

      So it would seem that regardless of who did what when, he had a need to clean his car sometime between the 12th and 19th. Which is 9 + days after she went missing...

      Very strange. I can't think of many fit of passion murders where it takes up to that long to dispose of a body, if it was him who did it. It suggests to me that with that kind of time, they probably will never find it. Which is a shame.

      --

      can't sleep slashdot will eat me
    21. Re:This is sad ... by shadowmas · · Score: 5, Insightful

      True it's sad to see an guilty person walk free.

      But it's sadder to see a innocent person goto prison.

    22. Re:This is sad ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      In the South, that joke is told. The difference is that "lawyer" is replace with "'black person" or some other word that refers to a black person. No, I'm not kidding. I've heard it with my own ears.

      A friend of mine described these as "hate jokes". That is, they have no intrinsic humor other than delight at suffering. The substitution of "nigger" for "lawyer" that you describe is how you tell if a joke is in this category.

      While they can be mildly amusing ("What do you call 100 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?"), to me they indicate a lazy humorist.

    23. Re:This is sad ... by 1u3hr · · Score: 5, Funny
      Note to self: destroy copies of "Smartest Guys in the Room" and "Corporate Crime" after installing my program to skim the excess fractional pennies due to rounding bank transactions.

      Don't forget to get rid of your Superman III and Office Space videos.

    24. Re:This is sad ... by rbanffy · · Score: 4, Funny
      And you have a right to a free lawyer

      Can I fork the lawyer and rename it?

    25. Re:This is sad ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      > What do you call 100 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?

      A good start?

    26. Re:This is sad ... by bythescruff · · Score: 5, Funny

      "But it's sadder to see a innocent person goto prison."

      Wait for it...

      Wait for it...

      Yes, gotos are evil.

      --
      Chuck Norris: Socialism == a thousand years of darkness.
    27. Re:This is sad ... by Atzanteol · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Now seriously...which of those 3 seems most likely to be the founding fathers' intent?

      None of the above. Seriously. "The jury of your peers" is about keeping a ruling class from passing judgment on the masses. It's one of the last lines of defense against corruption in the legal system.

      Also, the judge explains to the jury the law involved, and the jury is allowed to ask questions about it. The jury is there to decide the truth, not the law.

      --
      "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"

      - Charles Darwin
    28. Re:This is sad ... by jnik · · Score: 3, Informative
      The saddest of all is that an innocent person was murdered.

      No, a person is missing. That she was murdered is an inference.

    29. Re:This is sad ... by fotbr · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Am I the only one that finds the focus on the books he happened to own more than a little disturbing?

      Even if he had a book titled "How to murder your wife and get away with it" it doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean he was planning anything, or even thinking about doing anything -- I agree, notes in margins, highlighting/underlining pieces, etc might mean something, but that is different than just having the books.

      This type of thinking is EXACTLY why library staff get pissed about the patriot act allowing law enforcement access to their records of who borrowed what, and when.

  9. I'll pay 10x revenues by winkydink · · Score: 3, Funny

    and that's not pennies on the dollar. Oh wait, it's actually pennies.

    --

    "I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey

    1. Re:I'll pay 10x revenues by m-wielgo · · Score: 5, Funny

      wait, .002 dollars or .002 cents???

  10. Aww... by Cl1mh4224rd · · Score: 4, Funny

    FFS!

    --
    People will pass up steak once a week, for crap every day.
  11. Truly this is sad... by bubulubugoth · · Score: 3, Insightful

    As a company owner, this thing is so sad. But on the techinical aspect, ReiserFS has better numbers in i/o, read and write that ext3, but many, many times, the way Hans conducts himself, lead to more and more people running away from ReiserFS.

    Novell have just switched from reiser to ex3 at opensuse 10.1 or 10.2, I can't remember well, and this was the last "mayor" distribution supporting it. Any way, his company was loosing value, even more, his company is more like a one man company that a group of people. I doubt Namesys has CMMI, or follows any structured development strategy, so, buying a company whos best product is the sole creation of his owner is a very, very bad move.

    I hope he gets some money for his company.

    --
    Â_Â
  12. Re:time for the linux community to intervene by Dissman · · Score: 4, Funny

    CowboyNeal did it. In the parlor, with the bookend.

    *puts clue game away.*

  13. Give the money to his kids by cryfreedomlove · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Perhaps he might get more takers and a higher price if the proceeds from the sale were used to set up a trust for his kids. They don't have a mother and their father will probably be in prison until he dies. Human buyers will make a more emotional connection with helping his kids than they will helping the defense of a murder suspect.

  14. sounds fishy by theMerovingian · · Score: 4, Funny


    Reiser was arrested Oct. 10 after the Oakland Police Department found small drops of blood in his house and on his Honda CRX.

    I'm not sure I'd want to buy a company from someone driving a Honda CRX...

    --
    "If you think you have things under control, you're not going fast enough." --Mario Andretti
  15. Re:WinFS by Fyre2012 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, DOS is an Operating System. ReiserFS is a FILEsystem.

    If you mean Windows should drop NTFS, purchase this, rebrand it and have it ready for Vista's release, than i think you're either trolling or a little naive.

    heh, maybe Hans was in deals to sell it to MS (WinFS), but his concience ate away at him, and he ultimately refused. In return, they killed his wife, and now they get their FS on the CHEAP!

    --
    This is not the greatest .sig in the world, no. This is just a tribute.
  16. Prosecute murder with no body? by fishbowl · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Can they actually prosecute a homicide with no body?
    What would happen if he were convicted, and then Ms. Reiser shows up?
    How can you claim someone is guilty of murder before you have declared the
    victim is dead? Or if the victim is dead, has life insurance been collected, for instance?
    I really don't see how you can have "murder" without a body, remains of a body, or some specific claim as to how the body was disposed of.

    On the other hand, I *can* see how you could justify holding such a suspect without bail, sort of.
    He should, at a minimum, explain where the seat from his Honda can be found. Seems like that might clear up a few things. (They locate that seat, find it isn't covered with blood and bone fragments or whatever they expect to find... That sort of thing would be pretty embarrassing to the prosecution, I'd guess.)

    Of course, if I were a betting man, my money would not exactly be riding on Hans' innocence. The car seat bothers me a lot. (The State of California is required to presume his innocence, but I am not, unless I happen to get called on his jury...)

    --
    -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
  17. oh great by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Funny

    here comes the GoldenPalace.com file system

    those guys will buy anything if it gets them a free bit of news/ pr

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  18. the most tasteless entry? by Tumbleweed · · Score: 5, Funny

    The IToldYouNotToBotherMeWhenImCodingBitch file system.

    1. Re:the most tasteless entry? by Tumbleweed · · Score: 4, Funny

      You are so going to hell. ;)

      Maybe, but at least I'll have a killer filesystem once I get there. :)

  19. Re:WinFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny
    heh, maybe Hans was in deals to sell it to MS (WinFS), but his concience ate away at him, and he ultimately refused. In return, they killed his wife, and now they get their FS on the CHEAP!
    dude! You should be writing crappy murder mysteries - don't waste that fertile mind of yours, cash in! (But 1 caveat: don't mention Microsoft, even if you as the author know they're really behind each book's murder. Pick any common English given name for the bad guy except Bill -- though you're free to call him that in your head. Good luck!)
  20. Possible name by SeaFox · · Score: 5, Funny

    OJSystem
    .
    .
    .
    (for Open Journaled System, of course)

  21. Paypal me! by Schraegstrichpunkt · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm collecting donations to buy reiserfs so I can release it under the GPL. Paypal me at mailto:slash@example.com!

  22. Oblig Simpsons by cybercobra · · Score: 3, Funny

    Lionel Hutz: Can you imagine what a world without lawyers would be like?
    (Thought bubble with people from different cultures dancing around merrily in a circle while holding hands)
    Lionel Huts: Uggggh.

  23. Funny... by thrill12 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...I read topics of people having various non-eating related cookbooks in their homes on Slashdot, and each time this is referred to as "innocent reading material" (or something along those lines) rather than a prelude to terrorism - even though the police could view it in that way when someone is arrested on related charges.
    The finding of this book (I'm not talking about other findings) and supposing any connection of this book to the murdering is therefore kind of not-Slashdot like : he could just have been generally interested in murder, perhaps a big CSI fan or something ?
    It's supporting evidence at most.

    --
    Slashdot: stuff for news, nerds that matter, matter for news, stuff that nerd
    1. Re:Funny... by Splab · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And a missing front seat? Perhaps it was raining, and he forgot to close the door and the seat was spoiled - which would explain the soked rug. Lets see a body before we call it murder...

  24. How much is it worth? by haeger · · Score: 4, Insightful
    How much is it worth without Hans Reiser? He's the lead architect isn't he, the one with all the good ideas. Or is he a part of the deal. If aquitted he'll come work for you and if not you'll provide him with a laptop in his cell?

    .haeger

    --
    You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. -- Harlan Ellison
    1. Re:How much is it worth? by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 4, Interesting

      How much is it worth without Hans Reiser?

      Talk about unintended consequences.

      When your company's sole product is named after the lead developer, it makes it awfully difficult to convince anyone that there is much ongoing value in that product once the namesake is out of the picture.

      Reiser may end up on death row because he was unable to raise enough funds to hire a good enough attorney. All because he named the product after himself instead of something more generic. Who would have guessed that he might pay for that bit of ego indulgement with his life?

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
  25. Re:Vultures by Mr2cents · · Score: 5, Funny

    If ReiserFS uses a magic value somewhere, I suggest it to be changed to 0xDEADBABE.

    --
    "It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
  26. Vultures? by AlHunt · · Score: 3, Informative

    Reisers attorney, according to TFA:

    >'This is a unique opportunity for someone to buy the company for pennies on the dollar. We welcome all vultures.

    "vultures"? Funny words from the vulture bleeding him in the first place.

    --
    1 in 4 Maine children in struggle with hunger.
  27. Re:WinFS by DuckDodgers · · Score: 4, Informative

    ReiserFS, however, is a reality, and can do prettymuch what MS advertised with WinFS.

    The whole point of WinFS is to extend the data orginization indexing and searching advantages of relational databases to your filesystem.

    ReiserFS is a great journaling filesystem, but I don't believe it has anything to do with the concepts behind WinFS. I don't know how NTFS journaling compares to ReiserFS journaling, but NTFS does have journaling already.

  28. Re:WinFS by zerocool^ · · Score: 5, Insightful


    Dude, welcome to linux. Windows has One File System(tm) because... it's easier. Linux has 129 filesystems because 129 different people think each one is the best at what it does.

    I love linux, but sometimes too much choice is a bad thing. If linux was a car, there'd be 18 steering wheels and no air conditioning, but you'd be able to change the radio stations from the hubcaps.

    --
    sig?
  29. Re:Vultures by ded_guy · · Score: 4, Funny

    It puts the 'stab' in fstab!

    --
    In the future, all spacecraft will be made of cheese.
  30. Re:WinFS by AnyThingButWindows · · Score: 3, Funny

    If Linux was a car.... You could open the hood, and change motor to what you like. You could change the steering wheel, and the pedals, and the seats, and the hood color.... etc... The windows wouldn't be electric so you know the hand crank would work every time, and not hang. The car would cost $20k and last 400k miles. It would work on any road. You would never have an accident.
    Oh wait, that is a normal car....

    If Windows was a car.... Your hood would be welded shut, and you couldn't work on the motor, much less change it out, the windows wouldn't work on voice command, but you could have the option of "Are you sure" before you roll up, or down the windows with a button. The Airbag would ask the same question as well. Your car would cost $300,000 and the motor would last 10k miles before you had to wipe it and reload the engine. Only the dealer could do this, and it would take 36 minutes, but would require a preliminary inspection that required the car to be flipped upside down, and the blue ray disk inserted. You would have to buy a new one to be compatible with the new roads every 5 years.

    If MacOS were a car, you could do most of 1, but you would have to replace your car once every 2 years, but if you choose not to, then your radio stops working, but you will have the pleasure of knowing that although your car costs $50k, it will last 400k miles as well. (IE: A Volvo) Although you could get an extended warrenty for $2,390 a year called the AppleCar plan.

    --
    When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. - Jefferson
  31. Re:who else might want to kill his exwife? by Teancum · · Score: 4, Informative

    As a very close and personal friend of the Reiser family (I actually know Hans' father better than Hans himself, but that is besides the point), I find this whole episode showing the absolute worst in humanity on almost every level.

    This whole idea of speculating over his innocence or guilt is making me practically throw up each time I see news items here on /. related to this issue. If you have the investigation team equivalent of a D.A. that is going through this with a fine tooth comb, you might be able to intelligently make your own semi-accurate conclusions as to his guilt. For the rest of us, perhaps if we follow this very, very closely, we might be able to see the actual evidence that is presented to the court and make a judgement similar to a jury member.

    If you are relying upon what you are reading or hearing from the popular press (even /. in this case) about what has happened, you are relying on deliberate misinformation and partial facts to come to a conclusion. Hardly the best way to come to any sort of judgement.

    For myself, I see a very dear and personal friend who is going through a living nightmare in one way or another. A family that is litterally being ripped apart and a couple of kids that through no actions of their own are going to be permanently scarred emotionally over what the judicial system is doing to their family... even their extended family.

    This is also in a small way economically affecting me personally, and I wish I had more money to send and help Hans out so he wouldn't have to go through this very drastic step.

    At the same time, regardless of what happens, Hans' life in a sense is over and he is beginning something completely new from scratch. By selling the company he is also suggesting that perhaps it is time to move on with some other completely new project or even lifestyle.

    I pray for the day that Hans will no longer be a major news item on /. especially in this context.

  32. Re:WinFS by swillden · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Linux has 129 filesystems because 129 different people think each one is the best at what it does.

    No, Linux has several file systems because there's no such thing as a perfect file system, and even if there were, it hasn't been achieved yet.

    Each of the file systems out there has different strengths and weaknesses. If you need maximum reliability, you need a fully journaled file system (data and metadata), but you pay for that reliability in terms of performance. In most cases, you don't need that, but it is important that your file system not become corrupted by a power failure, or similar problem. For those, metadata journaling is enough. In yet other cases, raw speed is the goal, so journaling is a bad idea.

    But speed vs. reliability is only one issue to consider. Another is space efficiency, particularly for systems that will have large numbers of small files. Most file systems use one disk block (e.g. 1KB) even for a 100-byte file. Others (like reiserfs) can pack small files together. But that efficiency introduces complexity, which can reduce reliability. So space efficiency vs. reliability is a consideration.

    Another tradeoff is read performance vs. write performance. Yet another is performance of small files vs performance of large files. Yet another is reconfigurability -- can file systems be grown or shrunk in-place, perhaps even while in use? That's another tradeoff against complexity and the associated reduced reliability.

    For the desktop user, it doesn't really matter. You'll notice little difference regardless of which file system you choose. But there are applications in which the choice of file system can make a significant difference in system performance, space efficiency, reliability, or flexibility.

    Windows has One File System(tm) because... it's easier.

    No, Windows has one file system because Microsoft has never focused on technical excellence. Mediocrity is often an excellent business strategy, and it has certainly proven to be good to Microsoft, but that doesn't mean we can't have better.

    --
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