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It's Not the 15th Birthday of Linux
Glyn Moody writes "There's been a spate of celebrations of Linux's 15th birthday recently. What they're really marking is the 15th anniversary of version 1.0. But do version numbers matter for free software? The 'release early, release often' approach means there's generally little difference between version 0.99.14z, say, and version 1.0. In fact, drawing attention to such anniversaries is misguided, because it gives the impression that free software is created in the same way as traditional proprietary code, working towards a predetermined end-point according to a top-down plan. So how should we be choosing and celebrating free software's past achievements?"
It's an excuse for a party! I celebrate Christmas to but I don't believe in santa.
Who? Who is but the form following the function of what and what I am is a man in a mask.
Free software isn't developed according to the same models as proprietary software. We get that. It's just backwards to complain about how people take the time to celebrate the achievements of free software developers.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
I've always thought "release early, release often" is a terrible idea. That just means all your end-users will see the crap you're working on before you do the testing, and get a bad impression of your software right from the get-go. It makes sense to do that *after* you hit 1.0 and have a pretty clean product, but why would you want people forming their first impression of your software from untested development releases?
Comment of the year
when Linus says it is. He has final approval on any birth date.
Start celebrating the years when someone says, "This will be the year that Linux will take over the desktop."
Version numbers matter to the average user. If you have a product that takes years to break version 1.0, the uninitiated will wonder why it took you so long to "get it working." This question is another example of how many FOSS developers and advocates don't understand the basic psychology of the masses.
Isn't the most logical Linux birthday when Linus first posted his code for others to improve upon? If memory serves me correctly it was a Usenet post?
.: Max Romantschuk
So how should we be choosing and celebrating free software's past achievements?"
With hookers and blackjack. Duh.
" predetermined end-point according to a top-down plan"
Even if FOSS isn't working to an 'end-point', it still ages. Why does having an age attached to it imply it has an end point or an overall plan? (See also: The anniversary of the war in Iraq)
Nag nag nag, my 0.12c version has more features then your 1.0, nag nag nag, Linux isn't a operating system, GNU is a operating system and Linux is just the kernel, nag nag nag, no rules, great scotch, nag nag nag, GPL is great!, nag nag nag
In reply, I'll be succinct: Shut up bitch.
Who gives a shit?!
To be honest, I think that this might be part of the reason half the world is having trouble adopting to open source software. It's like a freshman trying to date a senior. GROW UP!
As long as the developer still has the human trait of assigning meanings to numbers, any major version X will have a gravity that version X-1.9.Z does not. Barring minor versions that happen to match up to pi, prime numbers, fibonacci sequences, etc.
Consciously or subconsciously, someone is saying "what happens next is different", otherwise they'd just make it a point release, or pick a different versioning system.
If you don't like the 1.0 milestone, then use first time someone outside the developers (collaborative or otherwise) of the product themselves could actually get the product to use it.
I still have an old .9-something Yggdrasil Linux on CD I bought at a university bookstore back before 1.0 was out, and I definitely wasn't one of the developers for Linux.
After about the 100th anal-retentive jackass to smugly point out "2001 is the ACTUAL start of the millennium, you know!" I just started punching them.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
That's like saying to your little girl, "It's not really your puppy's birthday honey, it's only the anniversary of its adoption".
Just enjoy the party and stop politicizing the invite.
So it's been 15 years since 1.0. I'll drink to that. There's got to be a reason Linus designated the code worthy of 1.0 status. It may be kind of arbitrary for a first birthday, but like I said.. who cares? It's Linux, it's awesome, it's been around for at least 15 years. Specific dates are irrelevant.
So how should we be choosing and celebrating free software's past achievements?"
Booze. Lots and lots of Booze. And strippers. Lots of strippers. And pie. Gotta have some pie.
Sent from your iPad.
I still have my, 9 pin dot matrix printed, copy of the Linux Installation manual from March 1992 :)
So CLEARLY it is > 15 years old
2 other points:
-Celebrating a birthday dow not make it better software. So this is pointless anyway.
-Linux was not born. In fact it is questionable if it was conceived 9 months earlier. You know, to write a OS is nerdy, and nerdy was not hot 15 years ago.
And 15? you can watch porn now with linux, no reason to wait 3 more years.
When going from #.99 to a whole number (version 1, 2, 3, 4, etc) it is a BIG deal actually. Even going from 0.99zzz to 1.0 is a big milestone. The changes are fairly significant and the software has reached a maturity the developer(s) believe warrant that. Now I am speaking in the traditional/ideology sense...I am sure some people put out version 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, n+1, where N>0 but in a traditional sense...version 1 = big milestone. I wouldn't celebrate it as it's birthday. Getting to version 1.0 is like a Jewish boy getting to age 13...big deal, but the kid was still born 13 years before that time.
I do not support "The Man". I also do not support your irrational stupidity
Glyn Moody is the most boring person in the entire history of the universe.
Yea this is an annoying trend. I used Linux for a year or two before it hit the 1.0 kernel. The 0.99 releases were very useful at the time, and in many ways better than the SCO release that cost BIG money for a PC unix.
Think Deeply.
Maybe Linus' birthday would be a clear cut milestone?
Patents Drive Free Software as Hurricanes Drive Construction Industry
So how should we be choosing and celebrating free software's past achievements?"
Declare it must be 5-o'clock somewhere, start drinking.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Yeah but the second it turns 18 I will lose all interest...
I'm confused. Is this an insult to Linux or to Jews?
Property is theft.
nor is it anything that can be given birth to.
We all know that Linux was made in 1979.
[yes this is a joke post]
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Anyhow, the first usable releases, such as the one I started on: 0.96 came out a couple of years earlier
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
"So how should we be choosing and celebrating free software's past achievements?" Obviously by being as annoyingly pedantic as possible.
It's a different way of counting.
You can consider software (such as Linux) beginning as the first line of code is written, or when the idea was first conceived, or when it was first on the internet, etc. Most people consider version 1.0 to be more of the official "birth" of software.
It's a different way of counting.
Both are correct when thinking of them from different perspectives. To understand this requires mental flexibility in your ways of thinking.
As a further illustration:
The argument presented in both the article and summary:
there's generally little difference between version 0.99.14z, say, and version 1.0
There's generally little difference between a fetus the day before it's born and the day after it's born. But culture generally starts counting after it's born and not at conception. Computer culture often starts counting at v1.0
Despite the quite correct statement by a few people that the millenium changed Jan 1 2001, the vast majority of people ignored that and celebrated the arrival of 2000 as the new millenium. No matter how right you are about Linux's age etc., the vast majority will completely fail to notice you and your dogmatic assertions, and will enjoy themselves in spite of you.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
Linux was a clone of Minix, which was a clone of the then 20 year old Unix, which was set set up by some nerds doing research at ATT / Berkeley. Then there was X11 which was developed in the 80s to allow Unixes compete with Mac which then followed KDE/GNOME in 1998.
When it comes to evolution, we are all super-ancestors from the same primordial the soup of "0.1" version of RNA/DNA.
Celebrate early and often! Free parties with free beer!
Life==Jeopardy. All the answers are right in front us - the hard part is coming up with the correct question.
By this "logic" it doesn't make sense to celebrate birthdays or wedding anniversaries either, as most babies, are more or less the same in the days and weeks before they are born. By the same token, many couples are engaged well before they are married, and begin to live a life very similar to what married life will be like for them. Humans LOVE to celebrate anniversaries (except for Jehovah's Witnesses, I've never really understood that), and we need SOME sort of reference point. version 1.0 or whatever whole integer people use seems to be that for software. Except Google, they don't care and will always keep things in beta.
--- He advocated thrift and hard work and disapproved of loose women who turned him down. ---
oh, i wish i had mod points for +1 insightful.
Lay off the "Mr Logic" juice.
Shit like this is why nerds are looked down upon by the wider society. Nobody really cares if the anniversery is exact. Let it go.
I celebrate linux every day.... It runs on ALL of my servers.
Well going by the v1.0 is the birth of a project, then Wine is very young
I, for one, do not plan to attend the parade, now that I know it's all a misguided sham...
Well if it's *not* the birthday of Linux who cares? It just happens to be one of 363 other UNbirthdays, all of which require celebration in a manner of your choice. "A very merry unbirthday, to you!"
"Just a fox, a whisper."
How will we celebrate? Well apparently we celebrate by doing what all slashdot-posting, Linux-loving nerds love to do - argue over pedantic details!
If you think about birthdays among people, they don't simply grow on the date of their birth. They are constantly growing and learning and developing. Birthdays are commemmorative events that celebrate when someone joined a specific family (or the human family in general). That's really not that different than what you described regarding open sources software.
Perhaps "anniversary" would be a better term. A marriage rarely has its beginnings at the altar or in front of the justice of the peace. The persons involved typically began interacting with each other, learning, and growing together before the date of the actual ceremony, yet we celebrate their anniversary on the date they made their public vows in front of witnesses. I can see a parallel between pre-release and beta editions culminating with a public 1.0 release (or whatever the given name or number of a product may be). I don't see it as a disservice to the open source community to mark such milestones. In fact, if they were to describe the development process similarly to how I described it here--as an ongoing, growing, developing thing--it might actually mean more to some people.
In any case, observing a birthday or anniversary holds powerful meaning regardless of the context (human or inanimate): it means the person or the thing survived the test of time. That's why so many businesses are quick to proclaim "...since 1933", "...established 2006", or similar sentiments that convey age. They understand that people tend to trust established brands, thinking (consciously or subconsciously), "if they've been around that long, they can't be too bad," or, "if they've been around that long, there's a good chance they'll still be around in a few years if I need to exercise my warranty rights."
So, for me, I'll say happy anniversary Linux. You've had a good start. I'm looking forward to what the next 50 years will bring.
I use irony whenever I can, but my shirts are still wrinkled...
Isn't the most logical Linux birthday when Linus first posted his code for others to improve upon? If memory serves me correctly it was a Usenet post?
Let's have today as Linux's official birthday, and this suggestion as Linux's actual birthday.
Then we get to celebrate twice, like the queen.
74.117.115.116 32.97.110.111 116.104.101.114 32.80.101.114 108.32.104.97 99.107.101.114
I can remember having Linux on my old Atari ST way more than 15 years ago. Of course back then there wasn't much to run on it :)
Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.
I love open source, I really do. But the proponents by and large tend to lack a sense of pragmatism or a sensitivity to psychology (which explains the terrible UIs of many open source programs).
Just pick a date and give people their freaking anniversary. It's not going to hurt anything and gives people a chance to have a little fun and acknowledge the progress of the project.
For linux tips: http://www.linuxtipsblog.com
... and made Glyn Moody the resident nitpicker?
God damn I hate it when FSF-zealots procrastinate and start annoying us with these types of things instead of doing anything remotely usefull.
A lack of planning and having defined goals is not the same as working in a new and different way. If a survey of the most successful open source project was to be done I would put money on every single one having a strong plan and good leadership. Fair enough that leadership might be technical rather than the typical management type but it would be there.
This whole "we won't call it 1.0 till it does everything perfectly" thinking smacks of childishness to me. Set some goals and publish them along with version numbers so that people know what to expect when. FFmpeg is a prime example of a project that should be 5.0 not 0.5. It's a mature, feature rich and stable lump of code that is in widespread use. Give it a version number that reflect that.
I used to have a better sig but it broke.
What's so special about the 0xFth anniversary anyway? Shouldn't we be waiting for next year and celebrating the 0x10th anniversary?
Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
Release early and release often works well in a free environment...
Unfortunatly, Microsoft appears to be following this mantra now... except you have to pay.
Pay for the beta (Vista) then pay again for the final product (Win 7).
The two actually have nothing to do with each other. Many "proprietary" software projects are done in an incremental, release-often mode. Many "free" software projects are done in a waterfall, plan-design-code-test-release mode.
By promulgating this myth, you are actually doing free software a big disservice, by limiting it to a certain style of development.
Go away, ponder, then come back and repent.
Wouldn't it be more like being born when Linux was first able to self-host?
This whole thread is a sausagefest of geektitude.
more people will come if they think we have punch and pie.
In fact, forget the booze and the pie!
Have you driven a fnord... lately?
You must wait a little bit before using this resource; please try again later.
In the 1970s a report was published about nerds, who coded manically in the university computer labs and shared stuff with people in other institutions, that had access the then limited network. Psychology Today published an article called The Hacker Files in about 1977-78 (the mag used to be a lot better). It was about people, who were creating stuff that we know today as FOSS (it also dealt with people, who were addicted to what passed for computer games and 'net then).
Not the early 1990s DC comic.
Linux is a fruit of that effort, among others. It is like evolution. Nobody really knows how and when it started, or when Homo Sapiens Sapiens actually appeared, but it's still in many ways the furthest-evolved product of the process.
Of course, by that logic Windows is an organism, that has locked itself in a niche (admittedly huge in 'installed user base' terms), has trouble updating its gene pool, and tries to survive by eliminating competitors and overreaching. Releasing the Win 7 beta publicly was a smart marketing move, though. That's something they are good at. Reports of how they disregarded the feedback seem to indicate a persistent unwillingness to learn.
Stop Celebrating!! 1.0 is only a number!! Don't you get it?? The pedants have spoken.
there's generally little difference between version 0.99.14z, say, and version 1.0.
The same holds for birthdays. There's generally little difference between a child at 8 months and 28 days versus at 9 months. In fact, the mother could decide to have an elective c-section at 8 months and 28 days an make that the kids "birthday".
Linus's decision to tick the version numbers over to 1.0 *is* an event to celebrate, because there had to be *something* about it that he thought warranted it - if not, why didn't he just call the next release 0.99.15a, 0.99.16, 0.99.99.99.54, etc. The fact that there was little change between ver. 1.0.0 and the one before it doesn't matter - something must have changed (if only in the way the world viewed it), because if there wasn't any difference at all, why didn't he call the previous one 1.0.0?
The fact is, Linus applied the standard concept of version numbering, where anything before version 1.0 is considered "pre-release". His decision to use that system, and his decision to tick over when he did means that there is a 15th anniversary of *something* - it may not be the "birth" of Linux, but it's at very least its bar mitzvah.
Yea I think I have a old version on 5 1/4 floppy to run as a celebration. (Now I need a computer with a 5 1/4" drive)
I don't
the first time a slacker sneered derisively at a red hat user. a.k.a. the beginning of the distro wars.
lose != loose
Don't care about anniversary, nobody cares (if you're not a woman). Free software and Linux are older than 15 Years, but if you want to have some party let me count !
TO-ga, to-ga, TOGA, TOGA, TOGA !!!
let cheers and coungrats to executive parties, we're running wild !
Then we should start counting from the day that Linus first realized that DOS sucked. I'm all for DOS Sucks Day ('cept younglings don't know what dos is)
Table-ized A.I.
In a world where constant operating system updates are considered good and necessary, this is probably the wrong way of going about it. There have to be some better occasions to celebrate.
For instance, instead of announcing anniversaries, how about announcing things like "Windows Vista Update 31323485: fixes a problem Linux has been immune to for 11 years."
---don't make me break out my red pen.
Hence 1AD: The first year of our lord.
Never any zeroth year of our lord. Because before 1AD, you have 1BC: first year before christ (or the last year without him, if you prefer)
only a group of Linux nerds could screw up a birthday party.
For Linux using the release of 1.0 was something that happened late. the .9 series was long lived and mature. I'd been using Linux for a long time before 1.0 was released.
In people years, Linux 1.0 was more like a high school graduation than a birth. It meant that Linux was mostly grown up,
For Linux we do have a very good and well defined "birthday". The day Linux posted on usnet. Use that.
Um, free software can be developed that way; and, on the other side, proprietary software can be developed in a more flexible manner. Licensing model and development methodology are two distinct axis of variation between software projects, a particular choice on one does not always correspond to a particular choice on the other.
Linux: 15 years of being 5 years away from taking over the desktop!
Yes, you are exactly right. I can't believe how few people understand this. Apparently, everyone forgets that GNU, started by the Free Software Foundation in 1984, had a very clearly stated goal of replacing Unix with a Free alternative. It was not an accident or mere hobby project and laid the foundations for the success of Linux (Linus didn't write a C library, compiler, or all the *nix userspace tools), the Free BSDs (they all use GNU development tools) and probably every other Free operating system in use today.
Different people wrote the components of GNU, since it was based on the very modular design of Unix, but each of those components was written in a fairly isolated process. This is what Eric Raymond would later refer to as the "Cathedral Model" in The Cathedral and the Bazaar. While Raymond seems to be saying that Linux's "Bazaar Model" of development is inherently better, I find it hard to argue against the success of GNU, especially since Linux probably wouldn't have succeeded without it.
I think Raymond is probably the main person responsible for spreading the myth that Free or Open Source has to be "release early, release often" and proprietary has to be "cathedral-style." Even though he gives examples of both models in the Free software world, he still strongly connects the "cathedral" model with the "commercial" world and "bazaar" model with the Linux world. Although he's not totally incorrect in those characterizations, many people still confuse "commercial" with "proprietary."
I'm convinced that frequency of releases and freedom of code are largely independent. The combination of "release early, release often, and listen to your users" with Free code has proven to be very powerful. However, other Free projects have had success with a "cathedral" style, some developed commercially and some outside of companies. There's a huge range of release frequency in the proprietary world.
Honest question - what does "bff geek" mean? Big Fat Fuckin'geek?
In my experience, you're descriped in "months old" right up until you're about two. As "how old's Felicity now?" " She's 21 months".
Really?
And pie. Gotta have some pie.
Certain strippers supply the pie. For an extra charge negotiated outside the regular fee.
So I've heard.
"Glyn Moody screams 'look at me!'"
And then /. falls for it. Congrats!
Is this like the "life starts at conception" argument?
We pick a day on which our period of dependent growth ended and we entered the world at large.
0.94 and 1.0 are different in open source just as they are in proprietary software. Open source software (as we are still trying to convince the public at large) can be used by end users and not just hackers, and you don't ask an end user to install a pre-release version without warning him first.
Let people know that Linux is not exactly the new kid on the block!
It wasn't the 15th birthday of Linux last year either, why did we have to wait this long to get a slashdot article about that?
"Free software" and "open source" are not development models. They are licencing regimes. They are only related to development models in the sense that they enable certain development models that are otherwise difficult to execute.
http://outcampaign.org/
You're missing the point -- they're doing the right thing. Because clearly, the appropriate way to celebrate the past achievements of free software is with a ridiculous angry row about some minor piece of pedantry. "It's GNU/Linux, bozo!", "Free software isn't the same as open source, dumbass!", "KDE sux and Gnome roolz, lameface!"
Linux acts JUST like a teenager!
+++OK ATH
i have long wondered about why one insist on counting software releases as x.y.z rather then just go with n+1 or whatever the term would be.
comment first, facts later. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm
>> So how should we be choosing and celebrating free software's past achievements?"
Easy. Go to the pub every time any version number increments in any opensource software package.
Is slashdot "better than life?"
ROTFLMAO, people are so fed up with you that it doesn't matter what you say anymore.