Linus is an asshole. He admits it himself. He also has somewhat of a gold-plating by being the creator of the operating system named after him -- you know, the one he owns the trademark to? It's a network effect. He'd have to really piss off large numbers of people to make them abondon ship.
Not everyone has to walk into a meeting like this with billg and stand this trial by fire. Well, I did read the fucking article, and he also had this to say:
"Second problem is that the bullying gets emulated down the line. There was nothing quite as absurd as a newly-hired college graduate thinking he could be as smart or rich as billg if he could only manage to be as rude."
Well I agree, as a general principle, but in practice I don't see any way around it. Merging projects or rallying around a single solution is nice when it happens, but it rarely does. There's too many packaging systems, too many APIs that do the same thing, too many licenses, too many distros,... the list goes on and on. Nearly all of this "choice" isn't worth the 99% duplication of effort and fragmentation. Gnome vs KDE is just one more.
why are you squandering the credibility of the University on kids who want to listen to a bunch of Brittany Spears songs for free? Seems like the main point of the article was to plug Noank Media. Follow the $ signs in the chart. Look at who stands to profit from the new "copyright-business model".
This is one case where choice is bad, and hinders adoption by the general public. Ok, so all the people who prefer Gnome will argue that Gnome should be "the one", and all the KDE users will argue for KDE. Is either side really going to convince the other to change?
I have met a few people, that have said things like.. they would like to know what it felt like to kill someone, and I do beleive there are many people only stopped by "the consequeces". Maybe, but I think this is more natural curiousity than an actual willingness to go through with it. Have you never played Grand Theft Auto or whatever video game and killed civilians? Have you ever been to a violent movie that glorifies violence and enjoyed it? Come on, be honest.
I really don't know if it's just my bad luck, me getting older, or what.. but it sure seems like there are A LOT more mentaly ill people that I meet these days. I'm very skeptical of any "things are getting worse" argument. That story is as old as civilization. As I get older, I catch myself thinking about "kids these days", or shake my head when I hear stories about people cutting live babies out of somebody. But look back at time, and you can always find sick and twisted events.
As you get older life is more precious, and you dwell more on the fragility of it. When you are young you are full of bravado and more nonchalant about death. Anyways, that's my experience.
But it's rather interesting to see how everybody on Slashdot was so quick to condemn Hans Reiser "everybody"? Actually lots of people expressed doubt in the original story, stating that the evidence like the book was too obvious for somebody as smart as Reiser, and possibly planted.
How about a little bit of "We don't know?" Is it too much to ask of a few geeks that they admit they don't actually know the answer to every question ever asked??? Well, if you don't make blanket judgements like the ones you are accusing all Slashdotters of, you will see quite a few geeks here express uncertainty -- some of they have been modded up, too.
Is this a bug? No, it's the moderation system. You don't see the parent post, but see the grandparent post, because the grandparent was moderated up. If you browse at a lower moderation level, you will see the parent post.
You are right, this can get confusing at times, but you learn to click on the "Parent" link when necessary. An indicator that there are unseen posts inbetween would be a nice feature.
They could've used that money to buy a 15% stake in Nintendo That would have been a bold, prescient move, but that's hindsight on your part. It also could have been a Kiss of Death for Nintendo.
You are aware of how Indians treat cattle, aren't you? An Anonymous Coward already replied, but I'll confirm it. They let them roam free on the streets like mangy dogs, fending for themselves.
What's sad is that it's used against us: we have the velvet handcuffs around here. We get four weeks of vacation (after the 90-day initial trial period of employment), pension and 401k/403b, decent benefits, and if you're really valued you get paid enough that it's hard to leave immediately and find another full-time position that pays as much. How terrible for you. I really hope that was just tongue-in-cheek bragging, "nyah nyah, look how good we have it!", instead of actually complaining. Either way, fuck you.
"at-will" employment anyone? Seems fair to me that if you can leave your job for a better one at any time, that the company should be able to look after itself in the same way. If you owned a company, would you not want the same freedom? If you work hard, and one of your co-workers doesn't, do you want him kept around?
And you honestly believe that Mono implementing Silverlight will actually make a difference as to whether Silverlight succeeds or fails? If all the "alternative" players say no, then collectively it will make a difference. More people are using Firefox, more are using OS/X, and more are using Linux.
http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2007/Apr-20.html Very nice, though calling the Flash standard semi-open is being generous. It says right in the FAQ that you can't use the spec to create a player.
Funny how Microsoft says they don't want another browser war, yet they push their own "standards", won't agree to an open video format, won't support SVG, the next Javascript, etc.
I can't believe Google put this guy on. I agree, he was awful. Even more embarrassing was the presentation by his professor buddy. "So, umm, we have some half-assed ideas that some grad students thought of, not tied together in any coherent way, and umm, could you give us some money and work for us? Umm, thanks for listening." *runs off stage*
Google should fire whoever brought these jackasses in.
They all say the exact same things That's bullshit. The Wired story included a direct quote from Negroponte based on an email exchange after the original story, not some AP rehash. Negroponte rebuked the AP story, not this Wired story.
Everyone seems to be quoting the same, unnamed source for the story, which Negroponte has rebuked as inaccurate. If I could find a transcript, I'd know for sure. I'd like to see a transcript too. However, I did provide you a different source, one that you oddly chose to ignore completely. The Wired article was based on their own email exchange with Negroponte. It includes this quote:
"Speaking with Wired News editor Kevin Poulsen over e-mail, Negroponte said that an SD card slot was added to the OLPC machine so it could meet Windows' minimum performance requirements.
'The XO always ran Windows... that is why we added the SD slot,' he said."
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Linus is an asshole. He admits it himself. He also has somewhat of a gold-plating by being the creator of the operating system named after him -- you know, the one he owns the trademark to? It's a network effect. He'd have to really piss off large numbers of people to make them abondon ship.
"Second problem is that the bullying gets emulated down the line. There was nothing quite as absurd as a newly-hired college graduate thinking he could be as smart or rich as billg if he could only manage to be as rude."
Well I agree, as a general principle, but in practice I don't see any way around it. Merging projects or rallying around a single solution is nice when it happens, but it rarely does. There's too many packaging systems, too many APIs that do the same thing, too many licenses, too many distros, ... the list goes on and on. Nearly all of this "choice" isn't worth the 99% duplication of effort and fragmentation. Gnome vs KDE is just one more.
"He who pays the piper calls the tune."
As you get older life is more precious, and you dwell more on the fragility of it. When you are young you are full of bravado and more nonchalant about death. Anyways, that's my experience.
You are right, this can get confusing at times, but you learn to click on the "Parent" link when necessary. An indicator that there are unseen posts inbetween would be a nice feature.
Redrum!
He will lead you from his keyboard.
Interesting that Jobs wouldn't write the foreword for the book, not even for old times' sake.
Ah, the best, most succinct post I have found on this issue.
Amiga 4ever!!
Lots of stuff you can figure out on your own just by experimenting. Anything else you can ask on a mailing list.
Funny how Microsoft says they don't want another browser war, yet they push their own "standards", won't agree to an open video format, won't support SVG, the next Javascript, etc.
How about Poltergeist? Bit of 80s culture/triva.
"Stay away from the light! The light is dangerous. Don't go near it. Don't even look at it."
Google should fire whoever brought these jackasses in.
"Speaking with Wired News editor Kevin Poulsen over e-mail, Negroponte said that an SD card slot was added to the OLPC machine so it could meet Windows' minimum performance requirements.
'The XO always ran Windows... that is why we added the SD slot,' he said."