Dave Whitinger announces LinSight

UuCon writes "On LinuxPR.com there is announcement about Co-Founder of Linux Today, Dave Whitinger has announced LinSight. A "Powerful, artificially intelligent network of websites will provide world-class service to the Linux community." Funny thing that the first member of the team listed is Elton Wells, who has "left his position as Program Manager of Developer Tools at Microsoft to join LinSight". "

Comments

Business Model

[chazR]

Does anybody know what the business model is? People of this calibre are going to want some return from their efforts. If they charge for access, a lot of people are going to be annoyed. They could try to support it with advertising, but that presents it's own problems.

Alternatively, they could make the resource freely available and charge a lot for consultancy.

Incidentally, however much you dislike Microsoft, their developer support (MSDN etc) has always been good. A significant part of their success is based on making it easy to develop software for their platforms. A similar quality resource for Linux in one location could provide a tremendous boost. Companies considering ports from other platforms would certainly see a single point for Linux development resources as a major benefit.

I wish them well.

Let's suck *all* the air out of the room

[Anonymous Coward]

The post was intended to be a droll jab at the sobersides who natter on about the pronunciation of this "Linux" operating system the kids are talking about. Some say it should be LEEnux, some say LINnux, others LYnux, and yet others say "Throatwarbler Mangrove," which may be a reference to some obscure comedy troupe of the 70s.

See, part of the problem is that the person who invented Linux, Marc Andreesson, is from Belgium, where the word "Linux" (a kind of cheese) is pronounced to rhyme with "peanuts," whereas Al Gore, the person who's done most of the work on the Linux "colonel" (or "graphical user interface" -- the shorter name is a pun on the fact that the rank of colonel is one above "major," and Gore has made the MAJOR contributions to Linux -- get it? See why programmers are renowned as the wacky funsters they are?), is actually from Florida, where "Linux" was the name of the main character in his neighbor and future running mate Chuck "Spuds" Schulz' comic strip "Peanuts" (recall what Linux sounds like in Belgian! see how the wheels turn within wheels in this pun stuff?)

*chuckle* Whoo! Ah me. Let me catch my breath.

SO, when this article came out referring to LinSight, where the second syllable rhymes with "Line" (hey, is this a reference to LINES of code? I just got that!), it was seen as an opportunity to "mine" the rich "vein" (maybe "LaneSight"?) of humor in an otherwise serious controversy, maybe gently nudging people to lighten up (or "litten up" -- can you see how the possibilities are endless? Isn't it GREAT? ["grite?"]) and maybe pause to reflect on man's inhumanity to man. Or something.

But I didn't catch the LinSight/insight thing. Thanks!

Check out his personal web sight

[Anonymous Coward]

If you follow the links to his personal web site you can see pictures of some OS types like Don Becker, ESR, Bob Young, Bruce Perens and even the Slashdot gang! There's also a weird personality test which gives some insight into what he's trying to accomplish with Linsight (i think).

Re:Tools Developer

[Stonehand]

As a program manager, dev tools? Probably do planning/organization for at least some of MS development software line; figure that the company has a decent number of people who *aren't* SDEs (Software Development Engineers) but do get to coordinate them.

It's *not* a coding position.

interesting concept

[sith]

If they can bring it together in a well done, usable fashion, it'll be an awfully hand resource.
The only concern I would have is that it will either be lacking in total content, or it will thrust too much info at users.
Having a central site for info is also a great way to combat the fud that says there is no good place to turn for linux support. We'll see..

Microsoft Suits

[IanCarlson]

Yes, the tone around here is that Microsoft suits are evil. I'm not nuts about Microsoft's products or their business practices, but just because someone worked as a Microsoft suit doesn't mean they are coming to suck the soul out of our beloved penguin.

As Linux becomes more and more profitable, you will see more and more people coming from the "dark side".

I'm no more happy about it than any of you are.

Rat from a sinking ship?

[acacia]

Am I the only one who thinks it's interesting that a former M$ employee is not only jumping ship for this, but that this company is so forthright about his employment history? Admittedly, developer relations was one of M$ strong points, so it's not a bad pedigree. One would have to question how much real linux experience he has (no mention of what copyleft projects he worked on) but then again, this is a wide-open and fast developing frontier. As far as the efficacy of their site, I definitely think that there is room in the market for a single point of reference for technical support. Linuxcare.com, Redhat, etc. all are providing pieces of the puzzle, but nobody has bundled a comprehensive, simple update and info site with much success. Best of luck to them, I guess.

Re:Rat from a sinking ship?

[Anonymous Coward]

Please people, don't jump down the guy's back just because he worked for Microsoft. And don't assume he can't know anything about Linux because he worked at Microsoft. I have to mess around with Linux at home because I'm forced to use Windows at work and I've become pretty knowledgable. Maybe he was running a home network running on linux, or perhaps running a business based on linux.

The point is, judge the guy by what he does. Not by where he used to work.

Would like an LSDN Online

[Rsriram]

I would like to see an LSDN online with comprehensive information that is well organised like the MSDN Online site. The metaphor of books is well used there. It would help system administrators, developers and managers in finding information quickly at a single point.

dictionary.com says...

[Coward, Anonymous]

world-class
adj.

1. Ranking among the foremost in the world; of an international standard of excellence; of the highest order: a world-class figure skater.
2. Usage Problem. Great, as in importance, concern, or notoriety.

Usage Note: The adjective world-class became current as a result of its original use to describe athletes capable of performing at an international level of competition, as in A ten-second time would put him in the first rank of world-class sprinters. In recent years it has been extended to mean "of an international standard of excellence" and has been applied to a wide variety of categories. When used of things that naturally admit such comparison, the extended use of the word is generally acceptable to the Usage Panel. In the most recent survey 65 percent accepted the description world-class restaurant, and 53 percent accepted world-class sports car. But the expression is not generally accepted as a vague way of emphasizing magnitude or degree. The sentence Johann Sebastian Bach's 300th birthday will rank as a world-class anniversary was acceptable to only 7 percent, and only 4 percent accepted a newspaper's description of AIDS as a world-class tragedy.

Program Manager?

[/dev/kev]

This guy used to be a Program Manager at MS?
Didn't they get rid of that thing after Windows 3.1?

:)

[HUMOR] Possible GPL violation under our nose..

[sinator]

Elton Wells: Elton has left his position as Program Manager of Developer Tools at Microsoft to join LinSight. He brings years of Linux experience, and will be responsible for the development of LinSight

It's quite obvious that years of linux experience at microsoft means that they MUST BE STEALING GPL CODE AND USING IT! Panic...

smile, it's funny