Seven Wonders of the IT World

C.G. Lynch writes "The computer closest to the North Pole. The most intriguing data center. The biggest scientific computing grid. The little kernel that rocked the world. CIO.com has compiled a list of Seven Wonders of the IT World, some of the most impressive and unusual systems on the planet (and beyond)."

Comments

Biggest Paradigm Change

[Red Jesus]

Biggest Paradigm Change in Enterprise Software: Linux kernel

Don't get me wrong: I love Linus and I love Linux. But don't forget what RMS likes to remind us at every opportunity: Linux is part of the GNU system. And GNU predated Linux by a long shot.

Stallman started the GNU project in 1983 and founded the Free Software Foundation in 1985. The Linux kernel appeared in 1991. Where did Torvalds get his compiler? Where did Torvalds get his editor? Where did Torvalds find people to work on his kernel? I understand that it can be pedantic to argue about big, abstract ideas like ``When did the paradigm shift really happen?'' Maybe the paradigm didn't ``shift'' until the Linux kernel came out. But Torvalds wasn't out to change paradigms. Stallman was. If we're going to hail the concept of free software, we should acknowledge the alphabet soup of RMS, the FSF, GNU, ETC. that gave it legs to stand on.

Re:Biggest Paradigm Change

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe the paradigm didn't ``shift'' until the Linux kernel came out. But Torvalds wasn't out to change paradigms. Stallman was.

Community development was Torvalds' innovation, not Stallman's. Prior to Linux, the FSF was a GPL cathedral cranking out utilities to run on Sun OS.

Agreed:

[Penguinisto]

Considering that both Voyagers each carry a mechanical device and a gold disk that bears lots of rich data about Earth and Humanity, I'd say that the best damned Backup/DR data storage effort we've made so far in the history of mankind.

/P

Re:More than you might suspect...

[Reaperducer]

So, in other words you're still not able to back up anything you said.

I don't know much about the history of Google, but Keyhole was a company independent of Google for quite years. I worked for a company that subscribed to its service. Google bought Keyhole years later.

Your original post is completely worthless, with a bunch of home page links pretending to be citations. Lemme take a shot at your style of online journalism:

Google is a company owned by the Dairy Queen corporation with the stated goal of infiltrating homes worldwide Radio Shack microphones and transmitters. They are carrying out this nefarious deed at the behest of the Queen of England, and the president of Mexico.

There. I'm just as factual as you are. And my references are just as good.

People like you are the reason smart people don't trust the internet.