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25th Anniversary of Hackers
theodp writes "Sharks gotta swim; bats gotta fly; hackers gotta hack. On the 25th anniversary of Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution, author Steven Levy has penned an interesting where-are-they-now follow up on the original digital revolutionaries for Wired. 'Some of my original subjects,' writes Levy, 'are now rich, famous, and powerful. They thrived in the movement's transition from insular subculture to multibillion-dollar industry, even if it meant rejecting some of the core hacker tenets. Others, unwilling or unable to adapt to a world that had discovered and exploited their passion — or else just unlucky — toiled in obscurity and fought to stave off bitterness. I also found a third group: the present-day heirs to the hacker legacy, who grew up in a world where commerce and hacking were never seen as opposing values. They are bringing their worldview into fertile new territories and, in doing so, are molding the future of the movement.' Here's hoping Google reads this and gets inspired to let Andy Hertzfeld ship whatever the hell he wants!" Glyn Moody pulls out one poignant detail from Levy's account: rms's thoughts of suicide.
The Amazon link is showing a different cover than what I usually see.
Why is everyone looking at me that way?
RIP America
July 4, 1776 - September 11, 2001
Based on my humble experience, most of the hackers doing black and grey hat stuff like phreaking/cracking/etc. weren't doing it to "steal and destroy" (even the phreakers stealing phone service were often only motivated by the desire to be able to dial long distance BBS's that they wouldn't have otherwise been able to afford). In their own way, they too were motivated by a desire to learn and with the thrill of accomplishment (over defeating a security system, finding a way to make a system behave in a way it wasn't intended, etc.). They were as much a part of the hacker culture as the guy sitting down and figuring out a new sorting algorithm or the guy finding a way to make a mainframe do something it was never designed for (like playing a videogame). And many of these crackers and phreakers were quite talented and actually went on with successful programming careers (especially if they were lucky/good enough not to have been caught).
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Nice to see /. getting its' Tom Lehrer on...
Sharks gotta swim, and bats gotta fly, I gotta love one woman till I die. To Ed or Dick or Bob She may be just a slob, But to me, well, She's my girl. In winter the bedroom is one large ice cube, And she squeezes the toothpaste from the middle of the tube. Her hairs in the sink Have driven me to drink, But she's my girl, she's my girl, she's my girl, And I love her. The girl that I lament for, The girl my money's spent for, The girl my back is bent for, The girl I owe the rent for, The girl I gave up Lent for Is the girl that heaven meant for me. So though for breakfast she makes coffee that tastes like shampoo, I come home for dinner and get peanut butter stew, Or if I'm in luck, It's broiled hockey puck, But, oh well, what the hell, She's my girl, And I love her.
I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
Do so.
Really, I'm not going to tell you why, just do it.
.: Max Romantschuk
I used to stay up late programming for fun.
Now I stay up late so that some company I don't care about can turn a profit on my services... And of course so I can afford all the cool stuff that I've grown so fond of.
It's a vicious cycle, and I could use a vacation. I can't really imagine doing anything else though...
Regardless of your opinion of the FSF and the (L)GPL, the Stallman quote is very sad!
Hey, RMS, if you're reading this, then just know that I'm glad you're here!!! Stick around, buddy! You've touched many lives in a good way.
The book makes the case that RMS is the last hacker, and he even says so again in the article. Yet the book never defined hacker as being a pure-non profit hacker, since both Apple & Microsoft are both prominently featured in the book. The book also mentions the LISP wars that emerged between the various companies emerging from MIT. There's been subsequent great companies started from MIT - RSA being one example. There's been other successful projects that emerged from academics, such as Linux and Google. So where does "the last hacker" designation come from?
Hackers that come to mind for me aren't these people that do digital break-ins. They don't even have to apply to computers whatsoever. Dictionary.com doesn't even have the correct original definition:
1. a person or thing that hacks.
2. Slang. a person who engages in an activity without talent or skill: weekend hackers on the golf course.
3. Computer Slang.
a. a computer enthusiast.
b. a microcomputer user who attempts to gain unauthorized access to proprietary computer systems.
First there were hackers. Then there was a new subset, called "computer hackers". Now the former are known as "hardware hackers" and the latter simply as "hackers". (and with only the negative connotations)
When *I* think of "hacker", I think of MacGyver. and Scotty. and Junkyard Showdown. And in the best modern tradition, Robot Wars. It's a real shame that I can't declare myself a "hacker" nowadays without people getting all the wrong ideas. In my book, a "hacker" is anyone that can do more with less than the average individual. I think I'd even have to call Red Green a good redneck hacker - anyone that can solve that many problems with Duct Tape has got to be a hacker.
I suspect the original definition evolved from "A person that hacks away at a problem using primitive tools not designed for the purpose, to create an acceptable and sometimes elegant solution."
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
As I recall, the book had three sections:
1. Original hackers in the 60s on early mainframes and minicomputers like PDPs
2. Homebrew hardware hackers in the 70s putting together their own microcomputers
3. Sierra game programmers in the 80s writing King's Quest
When I read it, my reaction to the third section was: wha? Sierra programmers were pretty cool and the stories are neat (especially the stuff about the partying and the (unsuccessful) effort by Ken Williams to try to get one of his programmers laid) but didn't rank anywhere near the top of the "cool hackers of the world" list. It was obvious in retrospect that he should have waited until the open source hacking community really took off; GNU and Linux are the obvious third generation of hackers. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and the book is nonetheless excellent.
Like open source programs in general, many people have influenced who I am today. I knew of RMS when I discovered Unix in the 80's. I greatly admired him when I read Steven Levy's "Hackers" the first time over a weekend. I do not agree with all of his ideas. But I would say society is much better off that he was here.
I remember reading this book when I was a wee lad, newly arrived at junior high. It was to shape my very being. It forged my core. I envied the exploits and playfulness of the early hackers. The hidden mazes they traversed. The new frontiers they explored. So With all this in focus, I neglected all my studies, and fiddled around with junk, not really learning any of it, just exploring. I soon found myself in college, and I mean definitely NOT MIT like I thought I'd go. I had no idea I actually had to study to get into MIT. So, I spent a few years in college changing my majors (my favorite major was my second major: undecided), and then I dropped out. I then ended up in military intelligence with nothing else to show for it. I'm basically do the work of a janitor for intel. CURSE YOU LEVY!!! I stayed drug free for this??!?!?
I was at the fringe of that world: I hung around the MIT and Stanford A.I. labs of the 1970s; I attended the Homebrew computer club meetings in the mid 1970s where the two Steve's introduced their funky wooden computer named after Beatle music. And I've attended many user and hobbyist groups since and now. The technology ebbs and flows. The the excitement and opportunity to make money, to build a company in your dorm room or "garage" is as great now as it was then. Right now we have Facebook, Twitter, and phone apps breaking out of the stalls. I cant see any real barrier to this ending for another 30 years other than people running out of imagination.
A better read and possibly a much better movie(if they ever get around to making it) is "Masters of Destruction"
A true story about hackers and crackers that ended up in a flame war that brought down the East coast phone network. It's an amazing story from the standpoint of the phone company knowing about it from the onset. Their noob mentality was "Let's see what happens."
Boy did they find out.
The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.
Sharks gotta swim; bats gotta fly
o/~ I gotta love one woman till I die... o/~
Ah, Tom Lehrer, how we adore you.
that i thought it was about the movie...
comment first, facts later. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm
Because Sierra was considered pretty hackish, by the general public anyway, in 1984.
Best Slashdot Co
is The Plague.
The article in Wired states that Bill Gates is considered one of the best coders ever? Wouldn't it be closer to the truth that he was maybe the luckiest son of a bitch ever to walk the face of the earth? The man could have been the smartest person in the world, but if his greatest claim to fame was writing DOS, how does he end up the richest? He may be the greediest or luckiest but like most great American success stories, it's mostly bullshit.
What was interesting about the book was that it was written at a time when microcomputers were just beginning to be big business and not just geek toys. Bill Gates was seen as a geek who made it big -- sort of like Sergey Brin today -- not the "villain" that he was seen as being in the 1990s. And RMS was seen as a hopeless romantic, trying to recapture the spirit of 1970s MIT -- while Levy respected RMS, it was clear that he thought that the idea of Free Software and the GNU project were just hippie fantasies that were going nowhere.
At this very moment, I am trying to get a CADR talking to an ITS via Chaosnet. The ITS is on the internet and has been for the past several weeks, with a few of my friends poking around at it. (BTW, I hacked the SMTP listener to only accept mail for itself, so it's mostly safe.)
Well, captain crunch aka john draper, featured in the video at the bottom of the wired article (guy w/ wild hair missing teeth) I know where he is. Took hive camoing in octiber to a northern cali festaval "symbiosis". Insanely brilliant but mostly just insane. Craziest muther Ive ever went anywhere with.
Then there was a new subset, called "computer hackers". Now the former are known as "hardware hackers" and the latter simply as "hackers". (and with only the negative connotations)
Hack goes further back than that.
When *I* think of "hacker", I think of MacGyver. and Scotty. and Junkyard Showdown.
MacGyver yes, Scotty not so much, and Junkyard Showdown I've never heard of. However there's Harry Broderick.
Falcon
Beam me up Scotty!
Should there be a Law?
He bought it from some guy who had written it as a clone of CP/M.
Partially right. Originally Gary Kildall starting working on DOS for the company he also started, Digital Research. He based it on CP/M which he also programmed. However DR would not accept IBM's offer of $250,000 for all the copies of the OS IBM wanted. Instead he wanted royalties. So then IBM went to Bill Gates who bought a non-exclusive license to 86-DOS, which was based on DR's DOS.
The only noteworthy thing that Gates himself actually coded was Microsoft BASIC.
BASIC was the only thing Gates programmed half-way-decent, but he saw the potential of microcomputers and the software they ran. After that he did whatever needed to make sure his company was on top, whatever it took.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
...since 1995 I have been doing a lot of Angelina Jolie related releases myself...
hmmm have a look at this
Okay.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
It's a privilege, not a right
My usage:
Originally, the term meant to someone who creates furniture with an axe.
Then, by extension, someone who can substitute skill and persistence for advanced tooling to successfully construct something of high quality and function.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Oh, fuck you and all you other Gates hagiographers. Enough of you riding on the coat tails of others. Stop trying to piggyback a little rich momma's boy onto great accomplishments of others, even if he has done a lot to stop progress. All the damage he does and the stupidity he expresses and stands for undo much of the best efforts of the greatest people we've seen.
the "villain" that he was seen as being in the 1990s.
Gates marketeers never get tired of getting paid to whitewash his reputation, do they? Here is the whine he wrote in 1976. He wasn't always big, but he was always annoying and wrong. The myth of Horatio Alger is just that a myth, and Gates was a rich kid from rich parents and rich grandparents who's mom's connections were in a lucky place at a lucky time.
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
Many dedicated hackers don't get enough sunlight, which can cause vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D defiency, now widespread in the USA, is a seriously deadly situation, which can cause depression, schizophrenia (Hans Reiser?), cancer, heart disease, autism, and other things. Almost all indoor professionals in the USA should probably be taking 5000 IU D3 in gelcaps daily (except days when they get a lot of sun) as well as eat right to get the other co-nutrients needed for vitamin D to work optimally (a very tiny fraction of people may have health issues that contraindicated vitamin D supplementation). See:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
RMS, I hope you read this; I'd miss you if you were not around.
The US RDA for vitamin D was set decades ago for healthy bones, not a healthy brain, healthy heart, healthy immune system, or healthy weight. It is probably more than ten times too low. The toxicity worries for vitamin D have also been overblown, epsecially if you supplement with D3 (not D2). All this is according to Dr. John Cannell, M.D., of the Vitamin D Council website:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitaminDPhysiology.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitaminDToxicity.shtml
A blood test is the only way to know for sure on your vitamin D levels.
http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-rda-for-vitamin-d.html
A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
Fuck you for pushing Microsoft whitewashing and trying to frame every company, product or service in the context of Fighting the Microsoft. Apple has its problems but you are utterly full of shit to try to claim that Apple's claim to fame is other than a company focused on providing a good user experience with (usually) quality software and (often) quality hardware.
Yes, IBM was the relatively big evil back then. It turned out to be small, very small, compared to Gates who was created by IBM as a side effect of the anti-trust remedies. Talk about Gates being only hated recently is nothing but pure whitewashing. ESR's comments are updated in 2004, but date back from 1998 a time when the views he expresses in the rant are a toned-down version of what was prevalent at the time. Or scroll down to readers' comments in Phil's page. Those are from 1999. You can find material going back to the mid-1970's he's always been perceived as an obnoxious dweeb.
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
Nobody is denying that during the 1990s Bill Gates and Microsoft were seen as evil monopolists. The point was this wasn't the case in the early 1980s. Microsoft was a successful company, but not a very large or high profile one -- Gates was just another successful tech guy like Jobs and Wozniak -- probably less famous, actually, as Gates was known as just the guy who wrote BASIC interpreters, rather than the more sexy design of computer systems. Again, read the book -- it gives a good feeling for the time.