I don't see any problem with having both ESR and RMS evangelizing their own approaches. Implicit in ESR's comments about free software's attractiveness as a concept is the fact that the "base" GNU/Linux community must continue to be aware of and motivated by that concept.
We may need to "buzzword" a bit to get people to switch from Win98 to RedHat 6.0, but this should not be at the expense of dedication to the free software idea.
Open Source is, as ESR said, a marketing of free software, not a denial of it...
Most of the current scientific thinking about brain area correlation is completely unsupported; the rest comes from non-repeatable testing on partially anesthetized surgery subjects.
The idea that Einstein's cranial differences are somehow responsible for his genius diminishes what he accomplished and how he accomplished it---he worked hard and devoted a level of attention to physics that most of us are unwilling to devote to anything but television.
As a final caveat, we've all heard that humans only use 5% of their putative mental capacity---so why would a 15% increase in "processor capacity" make a difference? It would be like the difference between 2GB and 3GB of RAM on an Apple ][+!
P.S. If you have a 3GB Apple ][+, let me know---I'm a buyer for sure...
A question: Did you actually think this through before you posted? Do you really think the means justifies the end in terms of OS advocacy?
Well, Panelvan, I *did* think this through before I posted, although perhaps my mind is a couple of MIPS short of yours and therefore deserving of any disdain you'd like to pitch its way.
I don't necessarily think the end justifies the means; however, the GNU/Linux-supporting community "faces", if you will, a powerful and well-funded team of corporate interests who believe precisely that.
The attitude you and some of the other faux Linux statesmen on/. espouse is precisely the one used with such success by Neville Chamberlain. "Ooh, someone is using their position of influence/power/cash-strength to swipe at an OS which may or may not be as good as any other. I wouldn't want to be a 'wingnut' and say that GNU/Linux is better than anything. Maybe if I assume a properly submissive posture, I will be accepted."
That didn't work in 1938, and it doesn't work now. The Mindcraft test is proof, if proof was needed, that Microsoft is prepared to be more abusive and idiotic than a room full of IRC haXors.
You have to make a decision. Will you become a Linux advocate, with all of the negative baggage that entails, and fight for your OS, or will you remain a Linux user who believes in the OS but remains silent?
As for me and my network, we will serve the GNU.;-)
The droids are out in full force, e-blathering about how the "wingnuts" and "script kiddies" are ruining the name of GNU/Linux. Golly, if only we could all participate in a reasoned discourse about this OS "war", perhaps over a latte, then everything would be all right.
Flaming, email-bombing, and other tactics may not be civilized, but they are the actions of people who care about GNU/Linux and its future. It may not be "mature" to attack a *nix detractor. It was also not "mature" to dump tea into the Boston harbor. nothing has ever been accomplished by pseduo-civilized discussion over crumpets.
Script kiddies, Linux wingnuts, do your thing. Nothing you could do would be more "offensive" than a$$-cramming a browser into Windows 98 and force-feeding it to the general public...
The only thing missing is the "gravity" of the event horizon, which would pull files in if they got too close.
I also detect a strong "Omega Race" influence in the clustering of the files as they grow closer to the event horizon.
May I suggest, instead, a "Q*Bert" file system where files can be "lured off" the pyramid to their inevitable deletion, and viruses are represented by small purple icons?
1) Any Chinese citizens who can afford a PSX2 and desire one (a painfully small number given their per capita GNP) will be able to obtain one.
2) There will be no "anti-US" backlash, as hilariously threatened above by several posters, because the US is the world's largest *consuming* economy and anyone who refuses to sell to the US is shooting themselves in the foot.
3) Chinese nuclear research will continue regardless of PSX2 availability. Should Comrade Gore become President, they'll be able to buy anything they want from us. If not, the Chinese will simply figure out another way to do it.
4) You don't need a computer to build a bomb. Nor do you need one to test it, assuming proper underground facilities and a cowardly international community.
5) Accepting the above, we can close out this thread...
If you have a problem with the author.. don't read them.
If only it were that simple. The problem is that the/. community is represented to the world at large by someone who is not even capable of installing RedHat without help.
Would you let Adam Sandler handle American foreign policy? Would you let Heidi Fleiss deliver ex cathedra statements from the Vatican? Would you let Jim Brady represent the U.S. in the Olympic 100-meter dash? (hee hee) If the answer is "no", then why let Katz represent us to the unwashed?
I say that every filtering out should be accompanied by an e-mail to/.
The community should speak out against representation without consultation, etc.
Re:Why Did This Have To Be Another Katz Soapbox?
on
Buffy and Dr. Varnus
·
· Score: 1
Point the first... no point is made with tautology.
Point the second... They are not meant to be real links. That's why it's an example, not an article. I don't know where the transcript of Dr. Varnus' statements is.
Point the third... don't let your knee-jerk Katz defensive reaction kick you in your own a$$.
Why Did This Have To Be Another Katz Soapbox?
on
Buffy and Dr. Varnus
·
· Score: 0
It is interesting to read about the Dr. Varnus thing, but it did not have to be another poorly spelled and constructed Katz Soapbox(tm).
Instead of several diarrheaic pages of Buffy-centricism, we could have had:
Someguy reports that Dr. Varnus, a guy at NIH, has suggested opening up the peer review process with an online journal. You can see a transcript of his remarks here.
Furthermore, this was a fairly important piece of info that is not getting onto the screens of the legions of Slashdotters who use their preferences to protect their systems from the Katz virus. Maybe Rob or Hemos could write it up next time.
In the meantime, Jon can work on his next feature: a comparison of the Turing machine and (surprise!) Sarah Michelle Gellar's breasts.
The only thing that stands between Linux and 100,000+ more users is full USB support for PPC architecture. With two million iMacs out there, you have to figure that 5% of them would try Linux and keep it if it permitted them to use a keyboard...
You can count me among those folks. Given that my current four-box basement *nix network only musters about 150 bogomips between them, adding my (most powerful) Mac to the mix would only help!
Slashdot Mirror
I knewthat if I waited long enough, I'd be able to use my iMac's scanner, printer, Zip, et al. on one of my boxes.
Only one question remains: Can I use the strawberry mouse and EmulateTwoButtons?
We may need to "buzzword" a bit to get people to switch from Win98 to RedHat 6.0, but this should not be at the expense of dedication to the free software idea.
Open Source is, as ESR said, a marketing of free software, not a denial of it...
The idea that Einstein's cranial differences are somehow responsible for his genius diminishes what he accomplished and how he accomplished it---he worked hard and devoted a level of attention to physics that most of us are unwilling to devote to anything but television.
As a final caveat, we've all heard that humans only use 5% of their putative mental capacity---so why would a 15% increase in "processor capacity" make a difference? It would be like the difference between 2GB and 3GB of RAM on an Apple ][+!
P.S. If you have a 3GB Apple ][+, let me know---I'm a buyer for sure...
advocacy?
Well, Panelvan, I *did* think this through before I posted, although perhaps my mind is a couple of MIPS short of yours and therefore deserving of any disdain you'd like to pitch its way.
I don't necessarily think the end justifies the means; however, the GNU/Linux-supporting community "faces", if you will, a powerful and well-funded team of corporate interests who believe precisely that.
The attitude you and some of the other faux Linux statesmen on /. espouse is precisely the one used with such success by Neville Chamberlain. "Ooh, someone is using their position of influence/power/cash-strength to swipe at an OS which may or may not be as good as any other. I wouldn't want to be a 'wingnut' and say that GNU/Linux is better than anything. Maybe if I assume a properly submissive posture, I will be accepted."
That didn't work in 1938, and it doesn't work now. The Mindcraft test is proof, if proof was needed, that Microsoft is prepared to be more abusive and idiotic than a room full of IRC haXors.
You have to make a decision. Will you become a Linux advocate, with all of the negative baggage that entails, and fight for your OS, or will you remain a Linux user who believes in the OS but remains silent?
As for me and my network, we will serve the GNU. ;-)
Flaming, email-bombing, and other tactics may not be civilized, but they are the actions of people who care about GNU/Linux and its future. It may not be "mature" to attack a *nix detractor. It was also not "mature" to dump tea into the Boston harbor. nothing has ever been accomplished by pseduo-civilized discussion over crumpets.
Script kiddies, Linux wingnuts, do your thing. Nothing you could do would be more "offensive" than a$$-cramming a browser into Windows 98 and force-feeding it to the general public...
I also detect a strong "Omega Race" influence in the clustering of the files as they grow closer to the event horizon.
May I suggest, instead, a "Q*Bert" file system where files can be "lured off" the pyramid to their inevitable deletion, and viruses are represented by small purple icons?
2) There will be no "anti-US" backlash, as
hilariously threatened above by several posters,
because the US is the world's largest *consuming*
economy and anyone who refuses to sell to the US is shooting themselves in the foot.
3) Chinese nuclear research will continue regardless of PSX2 availability. Should Comrade Gore become President, they'll be able to buy anything they want from us. If not, the Chinese will simply figure out another way to do it.
4) You don't need a computer to build a bomb. Nor do you need one to test it, assuming proper underground facilities and a cowardly international community.
5) Accepting the above, we can close out this thread...
If only it were that simple. The problem is that the /. community is represented to the world at large by someone who is not even capable of installing RedHat without help.
Would you let Adam Sandler handle American foreign policy? Would you let Heidi Fleiss deliver ex cathedra statements from the Vatican? Would you let Jim Brady represent the U.S. in the Olympic 100-meter dash? (hee hee) If the answer is "no", then why let Katz represent us to the unwashed?
I say that every filtering out should be accompanied by an e-mail to /.
The community should speak out against representation without consultation, etc.
Point the second... They are not meant to be real links. That's why it's an example, not an article. I don't know where the transcript of Dr.
Varnus' statements is.
Point the third... don't let your knee-jerk Katz defensive reaction kick you in your own a$$.
Instead of several diarrheaic pages of Buffy-centricism, we could have had:
Someguy reports that Dr. Varnus, a guy at NIH, has suggested opening up the peer review process with an online journal. You can see a transcript of his remarks here.
Furthermore, this was a fairly important piece of info that is not getting onto the screens of the legions of Slashdotters who use their preferences to protect their systems from the Katz virus. Maybe Rob or Hemos could write it up next time.
In the meantime, Jon can work on his next feature: a comparison of the Turing machine and (surprise!) Sarah Michelle Gellar's breasts.
You can count me among those folks. Given that my current four-box basement *nix network only musters about 150 bogomips between them, adding my (most powerful) Mac to the mix would only help!