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Is Linus Torvalds Speaking for Linux Anymore?
An anonymous reader writes to tell us CNET is currently running a story asking 'Is Linus Torvalds even speaking for Linux anymore?' It examines both Torvalds' recent public statements on other operating systems and his current approach towards Linux. The author wonders if his utopian view of how an operating system should be viewed and used is just too alien from what the majority of users are really looking for. "if it were up to Torvalds, beauty and intuition would take a backseat to functionality. But when you look at distributions like Ubuntu or OpenSuse, it looks like no one is paying attention. 'An OS should never have been something that people (in general) really care about: it should be completely invisible and nobody should give a flying [expletive] about it except the technical people.' Sure, that statement makes some sense, but in the grand scheme of things, it's the design and usability factor that makes the operating system much easier to use. And while both Mac OS X and Windows have their issues, for the average person, it makes more sense to use those than Linux."
It's too bad this Linus guy's direction becomes set in stone and we're stuck with a very rigid product that can't be modified to suit our individual needs.
What doesn't kill you only delays the inevitable
From the summary:
'An OS should never have been something that people (in general) really care about: it should be completely invisible and nobody should give a flying [expletive] about it except the technical people.'
It sounds like this Linus guy should focus his energy on the Linux kernel then huh?
(Do I really need to add the
tag?)Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
You say that like it's a bad thing...
;-P
We don't -want- your type on Painfully Masochistic oS, anyway!
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree
You do not. And what's more, you're Spartacus.
Only three things are certain; death, taxes, and apocryphal quotations - Ben Franklin.
I bet 99% of all people using Linux don't know how to change the current directory under Linux (on x86 it's: Load register eax with 12, load register ebx with pointer to zero-terminated string naming the new directory, call int 80h). But that's OK, because the user usually doesn't have to know it. Instead he interacts with some piece of software which does all this for him, be it the shell (where he'd type cd directory), or some file manager (where he probably would klick or doubleclick on a symbol representing the directory of choice; although that probably won't actually result in a change of directory, but just in the display of the desired directory; but then, the user couldn't care less how the functionality is implemented under the hood).
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
Typical CNET logic: Proclaim Linus' preference that beauty and intuition would take a backseat to functionality - and the problem that they have with this - wait for it - that the design and usability factor (sic) are more important, therefore Win and OS X are better for people than Linux, and from this - or as if it is in support - we arrive at Linus possibly no longer speaking for Linux.
..."
Brilliant. Just brilliant.
I didn't RTFA and I'm not going to RTFA. Whenever I hear logic like this, it makes me reach for my revolver.
And while I'm in the mood, don't get me started on how CNET isn't really complaining about Linux, it's GNU part - you know, the part that seems to be always denied by not using the proper name, GNU/Linux, but always gets trundled out as a defense mechanism.
I hate the smell of bad logic. I love the smell of napalm in the morning.
And for anyone tempted to not get it - this post isn't flamebait. It's a retaliation against the slagging my intelligence was just given.
Maybe I'd be in a better mood if the summary went, "An anonymous reader laughed his fucking ass off when he saw this crap, and thought - correctly - that any of us in a bad mood might find fun in slagging CNET. Here's their latest proof that journalist with IQs below 50 can get a job at CNET - because they know their market:
Yeah. That's the ticket.
Pathological kinda promises Path + Logical - but instead, you get stuck with pathetic.
I also think my 3 ancestors are insightful. Keep it under the hood, separate the OS from look-and-feel, church from state, and whatnot.
Karma please!
Tech support phone call:
"Hello? I can't see my operating system. I think its invisible. Can you help me?"
Well, im not the one who used TCP Vs IP as an example to disagree with OS Vs GUI...
As far as I understand... it goes something like this...
IP "I got some shit!!!"
TCP "you got some shit? I know what to do with that shit!!!"
HTTP "this shit makes sense, thanx TCP"
TCP "No problem HTTP, but IP deserves most of the credit, thank IP"
IP "Your Welcome"
meanwhile NIC sulks in the corner who deserves all of the credit for the entire conversation.
I'm curious where this idea comes from. The horse absolutely is the cart. This only makes sense in wagons because the fractured nature of the community makes it so there is more than one wagon style. In buggies, which command 95% of the market, the horse and the cart are considered the same by the end user.
Come on guys, English is not my first language. Try and keep it consistent for people like me. Call it "CNET is writing rubbish", or something more vigorous.
I propose an acronym for this behavior, much like FUD... that is "CNET". and it stands for "CNET: Nothing Except Trash". Phoenetically, you can say it as "Seen'it, nothing except trash." making it more suitable for things outside of CNET.
kthxbai
Ok, can we come up with some kind of deployable warning sign for when mixed analogies become physically painful?
I think part of my brain squirted out of my ear and I kinda need that right now.
"If it weren't for my horse, I wouldn't have spent that year in college."
--The Most "Get Off My Lawn" Being Ever, Lewis Black
"Don't feel bad for me child; I'm the monster that hides under your bed."
In the green corner weighing...maybe 45 pounds, its Linus and his team of loyal zealot fans
In the red corner weighing....maybe 10% market share, it's MacOS and it's loyal zealot fans
Who will win in the fight of the decade? Who's bugs will triumph. You too can gamble your future by becoming intimately familiar with one of these Operating Systems and ignoring the other (plus the other mainstream elephant in the kitchen!!!). Tickets are selling fast. Price is your loyal zealothood and your soul. Hurry in today!
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
Electron is way too busy running around to even ask for credit.
"Some books contain the machinery required to create and sustain universes."-Tycho
YOU FORGOT ABOUT ELECTRONS! THEY're doing the work! No Networking without ELECTRONS! Copper cables are just the ominous tubes, they're running through... Oh, and don't forget photons either! More and more tubes are made of optical conductors. Although they give their data to electrons at either end, so electrons should get the flowers...
EOF
Newsflash! Quarks on strike for more pay, recognition. Film at 11!
I have mod points. The reign of terror begins now.