Forbes' Dan Lyons Hates Groklaw, Wants to Be BFF with Linux

Anastasia Beaverhousen writes "In what many will consider either a total change of heart (or complete BS), Forbes columnist Dan Lyons was caught on video by Linux.com (also owned by Sourceforge) at a recent conference professing his undying love for Linux. The words, "pry it out of my hands at gunpoint" were even used at one point. 'After wading though some of the Lyons vs. PJ mire while writing this brief piece, I found myself wondering, "Aren't we all supposed to be grown-up journalists, or bloggers, or whatever? Aren't Linux and Free Software supposed to be about love and harmony and making the world a better place? Can't we, please, smile on our brother, everybody love one another, right now?" In any case, old-hippie sentiments aside, Dan Lyons says that despite the many attacks on him as a supposedly anti-Linux attack dog, he loves Linux. And uses it. And that he has trouble understanding why anyone would think he doesn't love Linux. '"

Comments

Re:Professional troll

[davidsyes]

And, there are those like myself who, once we found Linux, pretty much had NO reason to use microsoft products. I USE windows98 only to load Lotus SmartSuite, and to play around with various windows-environment applications that I hardly ever notice. Without Lotus SmartSuite, I'd pretty much have NO reson to use ANY microsoft product.

SO, I despise, utterly LOATHE and would wipe out with my magic wand, if I had one, microsoft's existence. Not because I LOVE Linux (I do, in that it gives me a way to escape much of msoft) but because more than ANY other company, I deSPISE how they operate. Not that others don't engage in some of the same practices ms does, but that they aren't IN MY FACE with lies. Hard drives, games, obscure hardware... I can evade. But, come to work, go to the library, book an appointment, whatever, I always have that lying, megalomanical, corporation-killing, Linux-attacking, FUD-mix-master machine (not ALL its employees, but the key ones) around.

I don't HATE ms because gates et al are filthy rich, I hate ms because they STOLE more of the computing world than anyone or any other company, are too damn powerful to wrest it back from them, and too many suckers are "born a minute" and don't venture outside.

By the SAME token, I despise those in Linuxland who keep designing applications for an audience they THINK will join Linux, but who keep designing CRAPWARE (by interface and operation) that mystifies, befuddles, and infuriates users TRYING to make an earnest effort to give Linux more than a few frustrating hours.

I PUT UP with Linux in my first few months. I had the time, the will, and the anti-ms rhetoric driving me. I also create 'applications', mainly obscure database interfaces via Lotus Approach. I have to use Approach because there are NO widgets or full-fledge apps that let me do 90% of what Lotus Approach (the award-winning, end-user, no-programming-required) relational database front end does, and NO word processors that work like Lotus Word Pro does for me.

On the SAME token, I'm close to despising IBM (never mind all the contributions to open source), but they arrogantly act as if their users are supposed to be CORPORATIONS, not individuals. A LOT of people and open source projects could benefit from WHATEVER (not just token bits, and ragged-ware like Symphony) IBM/Lotus CAN release to open source.

They WON'T work better with Sun (so far as I can see) to come out with exciting stun-ware for end users. I cannot accept that EVERYthing in SmartSuite is so deeply externally owned that IBM cannot even decompile the thing and say, "Here, Open Source Community, we've removed the non-IBM, non-Lotus stuff. If you can restore the functionality for ingrates like David Syes, you're a better set of people (albeit on a different mission) than we.

No. Won't happen. Symphony could have waited 6 more months, and should have looked like SMARTSUITE, not that ragged crippleware we saw. I tried it and almost had a thrombosis, anurism, and and cataleptic fit all at once. A major waste of resources, given that they've owned SmartSuite since, what, 1997, and Lotus possessed Symphony since maybe 1992. Repeatedly, hearteningly, a lot of us beg, cried, and drooled for IBM to come to our END-USER aid, and we idealistically or stupidly failed to realize that IBM CARES ABOUT COMPANIES, NOT INDIVIDUALS, not entrepreneurs, not fringe.

I've burned too much time on this rant.

Re:Who is this guy, and why should i care?

[DMadCat]

I do not think that word means what you think it means...

(omniscient was probably the word you guys were going for ;) )