Aren't you really talking about knowing and using efficient algorithms? Isn't this a separate issue from the question of whether it is useful to know how to program in a very, very low level language?
He seems like a propagandist-marketer-blogger for hire. Looking through the sites he claims credit for, it appears that they are quite varied in focus: some advocating internet connectivity in Mali Africa to underground railways. His sites all look different but are littered with ads which may pay for themselves, but the inescapable feeling is that he is a professional marketer (astroturfer?).
The anaolgy to evolution is flawed. Homo sapiens never used the tools and other technology of homo erectus, whereas Ubuuntu is critically dependent on Debian's technology and infrastructure. There is indeed evolution in the development of Ubuntu but it is more akin to development in the sciences, e.g., Newtonian mechanics-->special relativity--->general relativity.
If nothing else this article is good for recalling Einstein's and Godel's friendship. I recall reading that Kurt Godel was Albert Einstein's best friend at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton when both were near the end of their careers. The two would walk home together daily (coming in at ~10A and leaving around ~3P). Einstein thought of these walks as the best part of his day. At any rate, though by training Kurt Godel was a logician, he was also an extremely gifted mathematician and when he applied his mind to Einstein's theory of General Relatvity he came to the conclusion that the equations seemed to imply that time travel was possible if the universe conformed to certain conditions. But the more interesting thing is that he interpreted his results as implying that our intuitive notion of time as something that flows external to us is an illusion, that time may not even exist. I won't pretend to try to explain these results for they are far beyond my capacity but it was a fascinating read. I can not find the book I recently read about Einstein and Godel but there are a couple out there. The theories of these real scientists and mathematicians is far more interesting than the incoherent ramblings of these crackpots. I would reccomend browsing Amazon if anyone is interested and has the time.
That comment reminded me of something quite humorous. My neighbor is in fact a GM Chevy dealer, and guess what car he drives? A Lexus! I always thought it was a sad commentary on the quality of GM's cars that a guy who makes a living selling them won't drive them.
While in principle you are right, the economic consequences of free software are such that it results in software becoming not only free as in speech but as in beer. Once software is purchased it can be re-distributed at very little additional cost and at will (including source code) to as many people one wishes, and they in turn to as many of their friends as they wish. The end result is that no matter how much the first person paid for the software, that price won't be able to compete with free, as in beer!
"...it just all becomes chaos especially when you start working with other people and in palimpset environments."
I have noticed several people using "palimpset". Do they actually mean palimpsest, likening a program to an old parchment which has had writing scrubbed or scraped away to allow for more?
What was kind of humorous and interesting, if true, is the assertion that Thomson, one of the creators of UNIX, had written a backdoor in the binary distribution of UNIX that would add him as a user to whatever system it was installed on.
There is also the claim that Windows was "certified" at a higher level of security by the Army itself than Linux. Does anyone what criteria were used to assess the relative security of these OSs?
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Not only did Stallman write EMACS, but he also wrote parts of GCC, the debugger, and gmake. These are not negligible contributions.
Aren't you really talking about knowing and using efficient algorithms? Isn't this a separate issue from the question of whether it is useful to know how to program in a very, very low level language?
He seems like a propagandist-marketer-blogger for hire. Looking through the sites he claims credit for, it appears that they are quite varied in focus: some advocating internet connectivity in Mali Africa to underground railways. His sites all look different but are littered with ads which may pay for themselves, but the inescapable feeling is that he is a professional marketer (astroturfer?).
The anaolgy to evolution is flawed. Homo sapiens never used the tools and other technology of homo erectus, whereas Ubuuntu is critically dependent on Debian's technology and infrastructure. There is indeed evolution in the development of Ubuntu but it is more akin to development in the sciences, e.g., Newtonian mechanics-->special relativity--->general relativity.
If nothing else this article is good for recalling Einstein's and Godel's friendship. I recall reading that Kurt Godel was Albert Einstein's best friend at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton when both were near the end of their careers. The two would walk home together daily (coming in at ~10A and leaving around ~3P). Einstein thought of these walks as the best part of his day. At any rate, though by training Kurt Godel was a logician, he was also an extremely gifted mathematician and when he applied his mind to Einstein's theory of General Relatvity he came to the conclusion that the equations seemed to imply that time travel was possible if the universe conformed to certain conditions. But the more interesting thing is that he interpreted his results as implying that our intuitive notion of time as something that flows external to us is an illusion, that time may not even exist. I won't pretend to try to explain these results for they are far beyond my capacity but it was a fascinating read. I can not find the book I recently read about Einstein and Godel but there are a couple out there. The theories of these real scientists and mathematicians is far more interesting than the incoherent ramblings of these crackpots. I would reccomend browsing Amazon if anyone is interested and has the time.
My mistake...1 Byte(abbreviated B) is still 8 bits.
That comment reminded me of something quite humorous. My neighbor is in fact a GM Chevy dealer, and guess what car he drives? A Lexus! I always thought it was a sad commentary on the quality of GM's cars that a guy who makes a living selling them won't drive them.
While in principle you are right, the economic consequences of free software are such that it results in software becoming not only free as in speech but as in beer. Once software is purchased it can be re-distributed at very little additional cost and at will (including source code) to as many people one wishes, and they in turn to as many of their friends as they wish. The end result is that no matter how much the first person paid for the software, that price won't be able to compete with free, as in beer!
Saw your screenshot. I have the same problem. Wondering if you are using the new Clearlooks theme and gtk engine?
"...it just all becomes chaos especially when you start working with other people and in palimpset environments."
I have noticed several people using "palimpset". Do they actually mean palimpsest, likening a program to an old parchment which has had writing scrubbed or scraped away to allow for more?
What was kind of humorous and interesting, if true, is the assertion that Thomson, one of the creators of UNIX, had written a backdoor in the binary distribution of UNIX that would add him as a user to whatever system it was installed on.
There is also the claim that Windows was "certified" at a higher level of security by the Army itself than Linux. Does anyone what criteria were used to assess the relative security of these OSs?