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Linus Puts Shields Up
wesmills writes "ZDNet, that fine purvayor of well-balanced, highly informative Linux stories (BS mode OFF) has written a piece complaining that Linus isn't as accessible as he used to be. You wouldn't answer the phone, either, if you had 1000s of journalists asking the same question all day, every day, would you? " I'm in an odd position: As a pseudo journalist I sometimes need to get ahold of people in that capacity, but I also have to deal regularly with media types who just want a lame quote for their article. After you answer the same questions time and time again, it gets amazingly tedious (And I've been known to tell reporters to read the FAQ too ;) I'm amazed Linus lasted this long. I hope that the levels of protection he's put in place give him some well deserved privacy.
You mean his employers weren't objecting to constant interruptions at least as much or more than Linus himeself was? I would think, seeing as how they won't even reveal publicly what they are developing, that they'd shoo off the journalsts wether Linus cared or not.
Journalists should realize just how lucky they are to get to bother Linus as much as they do. Is Mr. Micros*ft as accessible? Or anywhere near as interesting? :)
Oh, Linus . . . why are you so distant? You said you loved me . . . we were going to buy a condo . . . now it's all I can do to bring myself to park outside your house and dig through your garbage... LINUS! WE NEVER TALK ANYMORE! Maybe...what if I were to shoot Reagan....
Linus is, for better or worse, a celebrity of a sort... people are going to keep asking him dumb questions (and, to be fair, smart ones) and he's just going to be completely overwhelmed. It's basically a choice of him answering questions at random, or actually getting something done.
Since he's apparently choosing the latter, it's obvious success hasn't gotten to his head... and least not too much. :) (I'd be shocked if it didn't get to his head at all - it would get to practically anyone's head.)
If you read the article (unlike almost every single person that posted a 'talkback' on zdnet), you will see that the author isn't bashing Linus for this. He's just stating the fact that Linus has a media buffer now. So try not to go off bashing ZDNet and screaming "FUD!"
"Your heart is free. Have the courage to follow 'er."
-- Grow up and use mutt.
.... unfortunately. Ah well.. Pete C (MacOS programmer - new convert to Linux) P.S Firrrst!
"linus refuses to answer the fone at work to answer non-work-related questions."
this is unexpected? why would it surprise a single soul that he opts not to take calls at work? transmeta (presumably) doesnt pay him to chat on the fone all day with his legions of devotees; he should do his job and ZD should stop reporting unnews.
The man has a job to do and has a family to raise. Sheesh. I would have given up months ago with that. I mean, I can't just call up Bill Gates and have a friendly chat with him about his thoughts on Win2k (or can I).
Seriously, tho. Isn't this the job of Linux International, made up of most of the other big names in Linux? They should be the ones receiveing the PR calls.
Maybe we need a PR-HOWTO for Linux that can be faxed on demand? (Q1. How is it pronounced...?)
Can I call up Bill Gates if I wanted to? Tell him how much his software stinks? Didn't think so. I don't see what the big deal is. Linus has other things to do. He has his job to worry about, and the rest of his life.
There are plenty of quotes around to answer any question these "news" sites have. Let's face it, they don't ask questions that are very intelligent (they should read a FAQ/HOWTO/etc). I'd personally only be able to take a few times before getting pissed at them. :) Linus doesn't cover a lot of what Linux is now about, desktop environments, Apache losing to IIS, and the like. These sites like ZDNet are more targetted to the using end of Linux, not the development. I'm sure many of their questions would be better directed at the appropriate groups.
If there's some big Linux news, like a new kernel release (ie 2.4, 3.0), there will be appropriate press releases for their quoting needs.
Linus, keep up the good work and never mind these wackos.
Note that you can still send him a fax and request an interview. It's just that he won't personally answer the phone if one of the 20 million Linux users or 100 million newspaper leeches calls him spontaneously. Amazing that he lasted so long. After all, he has a day job.
It appears the grammar checkers at zdnet are all broken so forget about punctuation and feel free to write grotesquely run on sentences with no punctuation in wild abandon but you cant really complain bacause hey if we really knew how to write we'd get a real job at a respectable publication and stop trying to poop on the linuxux guys parade.
"Reactionaries must be deprived of the right to voice their opinions; only the people have that right." - Mao
Might Linus just be out on vacation?
It's summertime, very traditional for Europeans to take vacation. And who deserves one more?
-- Robert
I was channel surfing the other day and was amazed to find myself looking at Linus Torvalds on CNN's Q+A program. It was the first time I heard his voice or saw a picture of him that wasn't a still.
Somebody tell the ZDNet guy that not only did he make himself available to the media, he did it in a format specifically designed for fielding as many questions as possible.
If I were Linus, I'd get the receptionist to start telling people that he'll receive messages, except for those coming from Zipf-Davies.
Always keep a sapphire in your mind
Read the article yourself. He says the Linux revolution is over and everybody should return to Windows desktops because he has not been able to pester Linus Torvalds immediately and directly by phone. He is not bashing Linus, he is calling him a celebrity and says since Linus is now a celebrity, Linux must suck. Presumably because celebrities can't code. That Linus is not reachable exactly because he has work to do, and not because he has stopped working for being a celebrity, is way above the stupid pompous reporter. He is mud-slinging against Linux because he feels put down because of not having a personal red phone to Linus.
I still see Linus floating around the comp.os.linux newsgroups every once and a while, especially when there's a kernel debate going on.
:')
I'd like to see Gates go into the MS newsgroups using his real name
Fully licensed blockchain psychiatrist
This is a silly useless article, just put up because a guy couldn't get an interview. He didn't even try to fax Linus.
Also, I'm not aware of who else would call Linus other than Journalists & Reporters. His friends will call him at home and we will just continue to E-Mail him.
Oh no, I'm sorry for suggesting that Linus. Send me E-Mail and I'll work on a procmail filter for you, ok? :)
fou aje oym asoyf ueyf jaffaq afset su!6j!/\ op 'ua>|7!>| ppn7
I don't know about Linus but I personally wouldn't grant interviews unless they brought beer. Or helped stock the home bar. Preferably with a keg of Carolina Pale Ale (a fine live brew with full body and a slightly rosey flavor) or Guiness. After all, we have to have our standards...
~just a little bit~
~just a little bit~
S-A-R-C-A-S-M
(to the tune of "RESPECT")
Berlin-- http://www.berlin-consortium.org
DNA just wants to be free...
Let's just hope that journalists don't start hounding him on c.o.l and linux-kernel...
Berlin-- http://www.berlin-consortium.org
DNA just wants to be free...
Because Linux doesn't need a commercial following to keep doing what it does, there's no reason for Linus to take this manipulative approach. Hopefully, the "journalists" will stop bugging Linus for stupid sound bites and start bugging the likes of Bob Young. I think Mr. Young would be much more receptive, after all, Red Hat does have a commercial interest.
It would appear that they are not concerned that Linus has a life of his own. Sure, creating a product means that you should take a certain amount of responsibility in supporting users by answering questions, but the man has to have some time to himself. He has a wife, and a child. He also has a job, and he DOES work on things other than Linux. If his attention were put 100% into appeasing journalistic vultures like Mr. Berinato, his family, job, life, and sanity would suffer. And then, to have the nerve to complain about it just makes me sick.
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon? :P)
(If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't.
Judging from my Producer friend, the news folks are all just after quick & easily digestible facts. Just one bullet-point after another, with very little explanation -- background info would be limited to a URL.
Any takers?
Well, personally I don't have much sympathy for anyone who starts out with bombastic statements like "the linux revolution is over" and then slowly take it back over the rest of the article.
Though I'd like to be Linux enthusiasts are for the most part rational, it doesn't surprise me that at least some of them would read the first few lines and skip to the bottom to send off a flame.
I'm not sure what the author is trying to acheive.
Perhaps he wants only to generate controversy, or maybe he's affecting a faux cynical style, where he pretends that he's critical of Linux, but in the end won't stick his nick out and make any kind of real statement.
For the last few months we've seen the whole tech community devided on whether Linux is worthwhile or not. Some authors even waffle back and forth on this. This one can't even make up his mind within the scope of one article.
Anyone know Scott Berinato's phone number so I can discuss this article with him?
Pork is not a verb
Fear, I'm still in college and _I_ don't answer my own telephone when it rings the 1-3 times it does each week. I have an answering machine. I won't talk to just anyone who calls. I can't believe Linus _ever_ did. He's a hacker, not a spokesman. If they want someone to talk to that badly they should call ESR.
i don't think that linus is a millionaire. he hasn't made any money _directly_ off of linux, though certainly some indirectly. in his own words (in some interview, of course i can't remember when) "[i don't need to get rich from linux because] do you think i'm going to be unemployed any time soon?"
Posted by Mike@ABC:
If y'all don't know me, I'm the tech reporter at ABCNEWS.com. I've had occasion to talk with Linus on a number of occasions, and he's been very nice, very thoughtful, and I think has given my stories a unique and powerful perspective that they wouldn't have otherwise had.
I've noted on here that many of the posts are aimed at the journalists, and some rightfully so. But believe it or not, we're not all twinks, dweebs, shmucks and newbies. Some of us actually take the time to RTFM before we bother people.
Of course, many don't, and I don't blame Linus for putting up the shields.
Still, Linux isn't the underground project it was two years ago. This OS has become a powerful force in both business and technology, and the guy who continues to lead the project is obviously going to be in demand.
I would hope Linus continues to work with reporters (like me, hint hint) to get Linux out into the mainstream media. And I hope he and many of the other folks whom we constantly pester continue to exhibit their characteristic patience with the media.
Hey! Sure, give us a teaser and DON'T give us a URL where we can see the archived show! Or, if anyone taped it, do they want to do the charitable thing and put it up for us all?
Damn...and I have CNN at work..sheee--it. Can't believe I missed it!
IS it archived anywhere?
As the media hunt down sound bites from the 'celebrities' of the community, they're bound to get less accessible. Such is life. One thing ESR provides is a simple press resources page that has generic bio information (Of course, how many hundred Linux articles have supplied bio information for Linus by now?), a resume, links to his papers, yadda. I wonder if something like this would make life easier for Linus.
Leave him alone! He has four things that keep him busy enough:
-Be a family man
-Kernel stuff
-World Domination
-Work with aliens on strange new technology (that's his paying job!)
And I think that's a good thing.
I think of the revolutionary component of linux being the fact that a free, open source operating system has made inroads into the computing mainstream and rigorously shaken the computer industry.
What's next is the fallout from that - developing the GUI's, developing the applications, integrating into appropriate environments, and expanding support mechanisms. That's not revolution, that's consolidating the gains of the revolution. It means the life after the hype.
I get annoyed as it is when I have the company support phone over the weekend. Linus must just go nuts with poeple trying to reach him. Just hire a PR rep to deal with the masses, filter out the crap, and pass along only the important stuff to Linus. This is a no-brainer folks!
The solution to the PR problem is simple -- Keep doing what we've always been doing. Develop publically, talk privately. Not the other way around.
You'll notice that in every situation where a person in a management role must also fulfill a spokesman role, that the whole situation will begin to slowly fall apart. Management and spokesmanship are mutually exclusive activities -- You cant perform one duty without somehow taking away from or harming your ability to perform the other...A veeeery important lesson I learned not too long ago. Anyone remember the GNOME Style Guide? (*grin*)
The press is basically looking for another Gates to put in the other corner of the computer industry's boxing ring. We'd be smart to let them stay confused rather than divert our attention to clueing them in. If you think about it, the press hasn't even comprehended the idea that nobody owns Linux yet. Its their responsibility to inform themselves, not ours, imho.
Bowie J. Poag
Bowie J. Poag
I mean, if Linus has something important to say, I'm sure I'll hear it here, or on linuxtoday...
Oh, those people are just whining and moaning, because they won't be the first ones to tell the word every time Linus sneezes.
--
When did that happen? After the wired thingy? Hehe.. Ok, what's the next step up? 3/2 journlist?
--
Anonymous Cowards Inc.
After all of his free efforts, I think he ought to say he's only available for $1000/hour consulting (but could make an exception when it's someone he would actually like to speak with). That way it's worth his time when he has to put up with clueless reporters asking the same meaningless questions.
What this guy started may shift enough capital around in the computer biz to rival the GNP of a small country. A small country the size of umm....Washington state! I'm no Linus worshipper but as I understand it he lives in a humble house and drives a humble car and is a fairly humble guy. I like that. But I've wondered about his vulnerability. What if something unfortunate happened to him? To what levels will some deranged day-trader go if this open-source OS continues its rampage? I apologize if you find this alarmist, but the dependance on one humble guy looks like a weakness in the Linux armor.
The emails I sent to Linus have always
been answered. At least the ones who were
no crap.
I sent an email when kernel 0.99pl6 was current,
and got a reply within half an hour.
I sent an email about kernel 2.2.10 and i got
a reply within an hour.
Thats somethin that facinates me. Sending an
email to the goldfather of linux, and getting
answers. Don't even think of getting an answer
from bill.gates@microsoft.com.
And of course the kernel source speaks for it self, so
other people can help you too. But don't start
asking for information that doesn't concern Linux.
Maybe thats the crap the journalists
from e.g. ZdNEt are after. I wouldn't respond
to that either.
The bug stops here.
nasaldemon: "Richard, they won't get it. They won't understand. You're
gonna be shot down in flames for this one, big-time."
Richard: "I know. It's one of those do-it-and-damn-the-consequences days."
I once happened to be in Linus' kitchen for a while. I got his business card, which had a different number on it from his publically published one.
Originally, if you called transmeta and asked to be transferred to Linus, you'd get a message that said "Linus Torvalds, who doesn't check his voicemail" in Linus's voice, followed by an automated voice saying "is not available..". When you called the number on his card, you just got "Linus Torvalds" without any disclaimers about voicemail.
What I'm saying is that he's had buffers before, but now it's more than just a little indirection.
--
I noticed
--
I noticed
It's getting about time to leave everywhere
You know that song (by some female artist or other, I don't know the name) "Why don't you love me, David Duchovny?" It'd be neat if someone (perhaps this person to whom I'm replying.. [sarcastic "hmmmm"]) would take that song and rewrite it to Linus Torvalds. Then again, maybe I'm just losing what I never really had to begin with...
Insert mind here.
For the longest time I've had this question about slashdot that seemed too obvious not to be mentioned on a faq or just plain as day to everyone out there. But I've done my homework and no dice, so here goes:
Why /.? What's the name mean (other than "the current directory")? My roommate suggested "./" since it's used a lot more often. Is there some meaning that I'm missing? Is it a joke? Does it just sound neat?
If someone could just point to a faq, that would be just as good.
What does FUD mean?
Even if the game was bad you could watch MNF just to scream at Howard. If /. is having a bad day, you can count on Jon to liven things up.
Basically negative propaganda spread about an opposing product/view/idea, usually in order to avoid rational comparisons.
chris
San Francisco values: compassion, tolerance, respect, intelligence
Seriously. Only Americans have such short vacations.
...
Me, I've got 4 weeks starting, going up to 6 weeks in the 5th year. The only way to fly...
Actually turned down another job as I would have had to start over with 2 weeks - told them to pay me more and do leave without pay, but "that might create a precedent". Whatever
Will in Seattle
Or just 'current', the idea meaning that the news is up to date.
Or maybe just because slash slash slash dot dot org sounds funny.
Sounds like there's a news group for that already
Let the whole world wait for 2.4.0 so he can answer the same question again? No the Linux revolution is not over. It is just hard at work.
By the way when was NT5 "windows2000" due out? Maybe Microsoft should do the same for all of it's own people. Oh I am sorry they are all too busy faking emails.
Get a free ipod.
Come on guys, we knew this was coming. The more people jump aboard our ship the weaker and weaker our support system gets. I think its time non-coders/non-artists volunteered as receptionists for our more bogged programmers. Maybe three or so for Linus. Its only going to get worse. Might as well prepare. We should also setup a IRC network purely used for Linux support, a place for LUGs to run a channel for their local area, and the usual geek chat..
This guy wanted to rattle of a quick and dirty article about today's hot topic (Linux) by phoning up the inventor and getting a personal quote.
Linus wouldn't take his call.
So he wrote an entire article about the fact that Linus wouldn't take his call, full of speculation and allegory and other forms of hamburger helper to get the word count up.
There's a certain amount of peverse ingenuity in doing that much to avoid actually having to do any kind of work. I can't figure out if I should be amused or disgusted. Let's see...
1) Did the fact Linus wouldn't take his call actually suprise him? There IS a pending feature freeze on the 2.3 series, he's kind of swamped right now in a BIG WAY.
2) Why is he writing a column this long about something he calls inevitable within the column?
3) Did it ever occur to him that Linus's employers at Transmeta might be behind it? It is a company phone after all, he theoretically does some kind of actual work for them. PR is nice but it's not ALL he does there.
4) He needs an appointment weeks in advance to see his dentist, but won't send the fax to get on Linus's calendar.
5) He scolded somebody for asking a question about patenting genomes, but never said what great new original questions HE was going to ask Linus.
If this was a post a mailing list, this guy would probably have just found a home in my twit-filter... Must have been one heck of a tight deadline to result in an article like that...
Rob
Nice bit 'o sarcasm.
Too bad the moderators and that other guy didn't notice it (They probably wouldn't notice sarcasm if was written in 72 point type on the board that's about to whack 'em).
Time to get rid of the dullards, and create a sharper image.
Can anybody tell me what this new Fax number is? Thanks!
>ZDNet report is completely useless
Just drop the word report and you have the gist of the mattter....
The National Enquirer must not be hiring right now, so ZDNet must have decided to take up the slack....
>He is mud-slinging against Linux because he feels put down because of >not having a personal red phone to Linus.
Also if you notice a *LOT* of these reporters are pissed because Linux Users have pretty much managed to do an end-run around them and the publications most of them work for. Remember the Amiga and the Atari ST? These reporters and industry trade rags could and did hinder the acceptance of both of these machines by refering to them as "Game Machines" and so forth. Nowdays they really can't do that when you have magazines like Forbes doing articles on Linux and BSD. Makes you wonder what the world would've been like if like articles concerning Amiga and ST had shown up in similar ones.
(And he could give Mike@ABC his free number.)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
I read the article, and its not this big accusation of (how dare he not answer the phone!) guilt, its a lighthearted and useless little commentary on how Linus (and Linux) has become a much bigger deal with the media, such that contacting him these days is more on par with contacting a celebrity than it used to be. The way everyone here is breathing defensive fire and brimstone about it comes off like a bunch of Scientologists defending L. Ron Hubbard.
dear god. do i smell a little bit of ego from captain malda, golden boy of wired, newly-made millionare (so the whisperings go)? i think pseudo-reporter is too good for him---all i ever see on slashdot is articles that some guy wrote, some other guy found, and robbie takes credit for. i believe the quote-unquote-linux-community has a common enemy who's big on that sort of practices, but i won't say the word so you can't quote me.
in fact, this is the most creative output that i think i've ever seen---i guess the topic of his own prowess is a little too sweet to dodge. and for someone who seems to me to be way into being just another member of this beautiful linux community we got goin' here, he sure seems to think we care what his opinion on such hot topics as mr.torvalds' personal life is!
one tip, malda: if you're going to call yourself a pseudo-journalist, a demi-journalist, a gymno-journalist, or anything at all with the word 'journalist' in it, at least learn to freakin' spell. ok? do us all a favor.
IT'S ALL FUD, KIDS, YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO SAY IT! ALL OF IT!
Check out any newspaper that has a clearly partisan spin in it's 'news' articles. I've seen a lot of this in The New York Times and you also see it in places like The Wall Street Journal, etc.
They try to give you a flavor, make an impression in the headlines and the first couple of paragraphs.
If you read only the first few paragraphs of this article, you might think the Linux Revolution is over, that Linus himself is now out-of-touch and that all that's left is marketing and carefully managed press events.
It's not until further down in the article does the author admit that this is just to be expected and that you can't blame Linus. You can't criticize the article, after all it's balanced if you're careful to read it. It's also not news.
Know what? Journalists know that people are lazy and don't typically read past the first few paragraphs. And this is born out in the fact that most of the talkbackers didn't read the whole article as you pointed out.
Don't be deceived. ZD 'journalists' are all about creating a world that's optimized for their advertisers. It's often difficult to tell what is an ad and what is an article in these trade rags.
In fairness to the 'trade rags', it's a tough business and you don't succeed by upsetting your customers. The advertisers are the real customers here, subscribers pay a pittance of what it takes to produce this stuff. I read ZD and similar sources to know what it is that the big advertisers want me to believe this week.
Giving the impression that Linux is all big business these days and that Linus himself has sold out and bought into a corporate mentality complete with faux polite handlers is perfectly in line with what ZD would like to see happen to Linux. They'd like to see it become totally corporate so that there would be more need for their own brand of pricey marketing. This is hampered by the counter-culture, revolutionary image that Linux has and the easy availability of real Linux news from low-profile avenues like Slashdot.
Any positive press that Linux gets in these places are thanks to companies like Compaq, HP, IBM, RedHat, SGI, Sun, RedHat, and the rest selling Linux in a big way. The positive articles you've seen lately about Linux did not convince these big companies to support Linux, it's the other way around. The positive press has trailed after the big companies getting on the bandwagon.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Your'e comments are so true. /. LWN and mailing lists tell me alot of what I want to know without having to hit ZD. Most of the time ZD and CNET repeats /. stories and presents them as theyre own. They think they own the market and word is always going to get round faster than they can get it. WRONG!
Just put that patch together and mail it to him. Otherwise, what the hell do you want from him? He releases kernels regularly and participates in discussions on the kernel mailing list. What on earth else do you want from him?
Interestingly, the biggest crock of b*****cks in the article has nothing to do with Linux at all.
Suburban new wave supplanted urban punk rock
At least three errors in that sentence, I think.
jsm
beowulf!
That was one of many of the like. It was the first time I'd seen him on TV and it actually left me thinking at the time 'Why does he bother with this?'
I wouldn't get a PR handler if I was him, I'd get a dog handler and keep em back that way.
ZamZ
Hi bill. :)
This article was produced because some guy wanted to write about Linux. He was pissed off that Linus wasn't available, so he wrote a fluff story. There is so little truth in this article it's ridiculous!! Who the fsck reads this stuff!?!?!
To finalize my case, take the following quote from the article:
Take his press Q+A session at the LinuxWorld Expo in San Jose earlier this month. Torvalds, who agreed to the session because he simply didn't have time to field the innumerable individual requests, first had to rattle off what were becoming familiar answers to familiar questions. Can open source work in the business world? Are you trying to rule software the way Bill Gates rules software? What do you think of Microsoft? What is open source? What is Linux? Why a penguin?
Hello!?!!? For anyone who was actually there at LinuxWorld, the majority of Linus' talk centered around what features would be incorporated into furture versions of Linux, including various kernel modules and drivers (DVD, khttpd, FireWire, journailing FS, SMP scalability, etc.), and was NOT your standard BS mainstream-type info-session.
Such blatantly careless journalism is inexusable.
- jonathan.
So why not go to the temple and send a prayer to him. Maybe he answers. Joerg Dietrich
See that key on the left and right side of the keyboard? Probably labeled: Shift, possibly with an up arrow, or some variant? Know what it does? Capitalizes words. If its so much trouble, why even bother with spaces?
As for the rest of it: Blow me. Even if Rob had done nothing at all and received all the credit do you think it would be the first time it's happened? You want to pick on someone? Find a better target. My point being: judge not lest ye be judged. That's how it looks from here.
I hardly think that somebody is flattering himself if he says he's a "pseudo" anything. Sounds more like self-deprecation to me. What if some Slashdot contributor called himself a pseudo-geek or a pseudo-hacker? Is that a compliment? Suppose I said that your post is full of pseudo-intelligence. Wouldn't you take that as an insult?
... at least learn to freakin' spell. ok?
Taco is telling us that he sees both sides of this story. On the one hand, he wants to be able to get ahold of someone like Linus. On the other hand, he wants journalists to leave him alone, particularly the clueless ones. That is entirely appropriate commentary.
one tip, malda:
And then you top it all off with a spelling flame! Sheesh!
Always keep a sapphire in your mind
This from some one with 'Send me Fan Mail' on their homepage!!!!!
"Ohhh, I am like your BIGGEST FAN, reely I ma"
[/;-)
Talking about FUD: Some first hand information on taxes in two European countries England: Standard 25 days off, and total tax burden (state, city, income tax etc) is below 40% even for incomes significantly above median. Top rate tax is 40% for incomes above 28000 pounds (about 40000 dollars). I am quite sure it is lower than in several american states. Netherlands: the *top* rate is 60%, which is quite a lot more, but the total tax burden is still not that high because the the lower bands are much lower. Tax burden is probably around 50% for median incomes, a bit higher for higher incomes. Norway has quite hi I do not know any country in Europe where people pay 85-90% tax over their income. We are not mad, just different
This was a completely nothing article. It was a slow news day and the guy had nothing to write about, so he came up with the only negative thing left (all of the usual ZDnet FUD has been beaten into the dirt by now) with which to smear Linux: ad hominem attacks against its creator.
But that's actually a good thing on a couple of levels. On the cheap-shot, anti-MS side (which I'm always willing to jab at) there's the very real notion that when someone has truly lost a debate but doesn't want to admit it, they resort to slinging mud. Maybe this guy is so motivated, maybe not. As they say, "I'm just sayin'". The other, more balanced way to look at it is that on a slow news day, journalists are willing write something, anything, about Linux, because they know it'll get them noticed and talked about one way or another.
And that is a sure sign of Linux's success.
Linus has 5000 out of 5000 possible anonymous reporter connections at this time - please use a mirror site. Thank You.
Chuck
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
Frag them!
Just yesterday I repeated ten times one and the same thing to one journalist who wanted to write an article about Y2K. She hanged in some idea-fixed conception of it and "wanted" that I would support it. It was a comedy.
Every time I would "near" her ideas she would get excited and give a standard question "anyway, you confirm...". However most of the conversation turned into an embroglio on explaining her that she was wrong from the start.
A lot of modern journlistics are no more lies today. They are fantasy novels. The journalist gets into some stupid start-up idea and hangs on it. No matter what experts, tetimonies, friends and foes tell him, he goes up to the end with it.
This article is not FUD. It is just one more product of these kind of journalists. I managed to see such situation several times. You are damn busy, you have a work to do. A journalist calls and you (un)politely send him to Hell. Next day you find in the 1st page, that you are not only a bastard, but also that only God knows what you're hidding out and what you're up to.
Frankly the in the last times the only people I nearly broke their faces were journalists. One almost got his $1800 camera in his head. I told him FIVE times that I didn't want to be on the news...
>Serious question: How in the hell do so many >people in Western Europe afford to take 4+ weeks
> of vacation? I couldn't do without >pay for over a week, much less afford a couple of >weeks in a
> hotel room and eating-out without >being paid. I just don't understand.
The real question is why do US employees stand for the way they get treated. The US is the odd
country out not europe. In Australia the EU and most other developed countries at least 4 weeks paid holiday is the norm.
Also when you go on holiday you don't have to stay in a 5 star hotel or a resort.... go backpacking
in bali or thailand for $20US a day no problem...
Remember there is more to life than putting in
more hours than everyone else to climb the corporate ladder.
Federal taxes + state taxes + city taxes + private health care in the US takes more money out of my pocket than income tax + local tax + national health did in the UK. And the services you get in return are far worse.
You'll see me there tomorrow at 1PM for their free brewery tour.
The guys at Carolina Brewery rock!
I think it's very telling that Scott Berinato, the author of this piece of non-news, did not deign to offer up so much as an email address for himself, nevermind a phone number, fax, or voicemail.
Mr. Berinato is in fact so throughly ensconced in his ivory fortress of journalism that those wishing to respond to his story are directed to the "talkback" forum at the bottom of the page. This "talkback" forum, in turn, is no longer accepting new posts, but instead directs readers to the ZDNet "News Forum Board", which requires one to register for an account before posting.
I don't know Scott Berinato's number, per se, but here's a URL with all sorts of direct contacts into PC-Week. Does anyone know which office Scott works out of, to narrow the search down?
/contacts/editorial.shtm /html/editorial/edit_beatlist.shtm
http://www.pcweekmar.com/html
http://www.pcweekmar.com
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Open mind, insert foot.
There's only one richest man in the world
Hmm, someone mentioned, and I haven't verified the rumor - that oil baron Rockefeller, in inflation adjusted, constant dollar terms, was still richer than Gates is now. Again, unverified. Of course Einstein, not a wealthy person, was a much more influential and lasting legacy than Rockefeller anyway.
Chuck
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
Yeah thats whats cool about Linus. He transends the hype rather than rides it.
The Linux revolution isn't his. He dosn't fight it and dosn't care to get dragged into that asspect of things.
Linus will tell you something like "It was something cool to do" when asked why he made Linux
But ask Bill Gates the same about Windows and he'll launch into market hype about demmand when really he did it becouse it was at the time "cool".
Once Linux becouse "uncool" to Linus he'll hand it over to AC and be done with it.
I don't actually exist.
journalists didn't write, "welp, the microcomputer revolution is over - might as well go back to your mainframes" (that I'm aware of anyway).
Chuck
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
I know it's illegal to threaten the life of the president.
Is it illegal to threaten the life of a former president?
Watch out for the secret service!
Many people only read the first couple of paragraphs in a story and think they know the whole thing. That's why news stories are written in an "inverted triangle" putting the most important stuff first. Did you notice that in the first paragraph he says the "revolution is over go back to windows" and only later in the story (much less likely to be read) he says the revolution isn't over the leader is just tired of stupid questions. Might be accidental I guess...
My other Slashdot ID is much lower.
Basically... You can decide whether you will PICK UP THE BLOODY PHONE by looking at the table: +-----------------+--------+------------+ | | URGENT | NOT URGENT | +-----------------+--------+------------+ | IMPORTANT | | | | NOT IMPORTANT | | | +-----------------+--------+------------+ As you can guess, the left-top is more pretty important, bottom-right is crap. At this point, you are WORKING (meaning: not wasting your time like some mediocre, aka 'journalist'), and the phone rings. And you know that it's not your boss, wife or whatever (well, you presumably have a cell-phone, pager or something else for 'urgent' cases) The call from Mr. Mediocre fits right into: NOT URGENT / NOT IMPORTANT category. So, why the hell would ANOBIDY pick up the phone for this guy? Just because he's from ZDNet, and he thinks that he's cool? Pathetic...
I noticed that when I posed an article that disagrees with the ZD article - it is not posted.
Perhaps because I called Scott Berinato and idiot for posting such a lame article, and that the article itself is another fine example of weak ZD-based journalism. They are obviously stooping to the "incite a riot" mentality that has taken over talk -radio.
-drew
Linux: Little, Better, Different.
Interestingly enough, at the root page for ZDNN, if you read down their headlines in the "Rumors and Comment" section, they are:
"Is it over for Linux?"
"Win2K will ship this year"
"Web journalists' dreams"
Coincidence?
without the media we wouldn't know what we know today about linus, and the only reason he's getting bugged so much is because of us!
Probably one of these two: S Berinato 11 Ripley Rd Medford, MA (781)393-8604 Scott Sara Berinato 12 Harvard St Arlington, MA (781)646-4089 Source: people.yahoo.com I'm surprised none of the dozen or so of you who ASKED actually bothered to LOOK. We're information brokers, right?
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
I heard Linus described as a cat herder. "trying to get a loose knit organization of professionals to write a quality operating system is like trying to herd cats"
RedHat should offer him title with a few mil in stock options. Let'm herd cats full time...
as for 'find a better target,' even if that -were- a reasonable response, i'd have a lot of trouble finding one. and 'judge not lest ye be judged?' what do you even -mean- by that? i assume you're not using that in a general sense, because that much hypocrisy in that little text would make any human's head explode, or at least that's what i'd like to believe.
--neil
Back when I actually read zdnet, and tried to post talkback responses, I discovered that zdnet was actively censoring their talkback articles. The ones that are posted are the ones that actively support zdnet's current agenda. (Back then, it was that linux users are all cranks and kids. I wonder if anythings changed....)
How obliging! On page 48 there's an article where they are bragging about their getting some award or another and it features business cards from all of their writers and editors, or at least the more senior ones, and, look, here is Scott Berinato's card!
These look to be the real business cards with office phone numbers. Each primary phone number is different and many of the fax numbers are different too.
Does the /. effect extend to Office Telephone systems?
Um, didn't they hire someone else to do most of the actual work? Someone who didn't end up being a billionaire, and whose name I therefore can't remember :)
Seriously, Bill Gate's credentials just aren't all that impressive. Obviously it took more than _just_ luck and connections (although he had some pretty useful connections), and the fact that he was already wealthy, but I think those played a big part. There are many, many, many people smarter than Bill Gates, lots of better business people, even quite a few people immoral enough to play the game as well as him. So, Bill Gates happened to be the one of those people in the right place at the right time with the right connections, the money, etc. It could have been someone else.
Of course, the same could be said for anyone in the spotlight, even Linus. Nevertheless, Bill Gates just doesn't get my respect. Perhaps it's because, in this life, some of us get the opportunity to choose between respect and money (often we're talking a fuzzy logic choice here, not strict boolean), and Bill Gates obviously chose money, and then decided to buy respect. Not particularly good hero material there. The sad thing is that, at the moment, it seems to be working. Of course, there's always history to contend with. When the money is gone, or when he is (although, sometimes people like him set up dynasties to keep themselves fondly remembered), there's a good chance that all his image building will be for naught. History will remember the things he actually did, and what he stood for, if it remembers him.
On the other hand, if he actually follows through on some of his promises, like the one to someday give away most of his money to charity, he may be able to gain respect. I don't think it would actually be considered buying respect, since one of the main reasons some of us dis-respect him is that he is greedy. On yet another hand (yes, I'm a mutant) the whole idea behind his promise is that he is going to be the worlds biggest philanthropist once he has enough money. He may even be sincere about this, but there's something childish about the notion. He's considered the world's richest man, but, until he has _enough_ money, he's only going to give away relatively paltry sums to charity for the purposes of publicity and, of course, posterity (i.e. buildings, etc. named after him or his family). From my point of view, if he's sincere, then he must think that the money is better off in his hands, for the purposes of "growing" it, than in anyone elses. If he gave it away now, there wouldn't be as much as there would be in five years, or ten years. But when is it enough? Is Bill Gates like a compulsive gambler on a lucky streak who can't bring himself to quit? Is there going to be anything left for charity, even if he is sincere? After all, his money is mostly on paper, and he can't liquidate it without destroying its value. If he does find a way to do so, the next important question is where did the money come from? Did it come from a real good that was produced and sold, or did it come from the pockets of all the people who have invested in his company? A company is _not_ a product. The stock market is about capital investment, it is _not_ a raffle or lottery where the winners prize money is made from the admission fee of all the losers (or, at least, it's not meant to be).
Anyway, I'm getting way off track. It just seems to me that most of the things people respect Bill Gates for are things that he never did or hasn't done yet and may not actually do. The basis for his respect is his wealth, and there's something disturbing in the fact that his wealth outstrips his companies not inconsiderable profits. No company that I've heard of ever seems to profit from partnering with Microsoft (for long) without actually being consumed by Microsoft. And yet the respect that many have for the company (which is often tied in with respect for Bill Gates) seems to lead other companies to make the same mistakes again and again.
In order to have my respect, Bill Gates would have to impress me a whole heck of a lot more than he does now. Not that having my respect is particularly important to Gates. If he has a deep need to be respected by everyone, then he'd have to be insane by now, because no one, even if that person is a paragon of virtue, gets everyone's respect.
Yeah, taking a whole month off is the right attitude. I just met (on a shuttle bus from SeaTac) an Irish nurse who's working in Seattle on contract, but who's thinking of going back to work in France for a while (she was just in Paris for a week). Maybe I'll join her ...
Will in Seattle