May 24th, 2009
Any usefully deployed Linux system is critically dependent on a number of components. This is the nature of Linux.
Stallman disciples reveal themselves as petty in their insistence that the contributions of their components so consistently outweigh the contributions of all other components that the system name must be lengthened to GNU/Linux.
In reality, this lengthened name provided no useful disambiguation. It merely serves to assert some sort of claim to additional control or take credit for a greater proportion of the success of Linux.
The irony is that this egomania would seem at odds to the ideals Stallman has worked to advance.
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December 15th, 2008
For all of the mind boggling Vista hate out there, I have yet to have a friend, relative, or co-worker ask me to help them with a virus on a Vista machine while those with XP machines continue to find ways to get infected.
I know this is a small sample size, but I can’t help but wonder how much damage you morons with a blog did by bashing Vista just because you were too stupid to understand why it is better.
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September 27th, 2008
Often I have accused you of being a bunch of morons. I would like to applogize.
Not for calling you morons, but for not explaining why you are morons. And maybe for not knowing a better word then moron to describe you.
I think you routinely view my criticism as an attack on your intelligence. I would like to clarify that I do not generally believe that you lack intelligence. Often in your arguments, you will demonstrate that you possess at least enough intelligence to operate the google button on your interweb terminal, and to use the results as a proxy for original thought. Additionally, your mastery of the spell checker does separate you from the unwashed masses.
While, I do not question your intelligence, I do question your wisdom. The later being a truly rare gift. Yes, your repeated use of straw man arguments, pandering to popular prejudice, regurgitation of propaganda, and rampant fanboy-ism can be attacked point by point.
One need only the sense to realize that the world is not so black and white as you would suggest to realize that the truth most likely lies between the extremes you collectively perpetuate. One need only realize that when a generally applicable and useful solution to a problem is found, the lesser solutions are quickly abandoned. One need only realize that difference of opinion correlates very highly with the existence of an unsolved problem.
So the next time that I call you a moron, please understand that I am only attacking your wisdom. This should not trouble you as I, too, am just another moron with a blog.
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May 18th, 2008
If you spend any time using the leading operating systems that are available today, you will find a stunning similarity in features. Quite different from the hype spewn by each camp’s Kool-Aid drinkers, they do so in very similar ways. This was not always the case. During the 80’s and 90’s there were real disagreements about how the modern OS should work. I am not talking about eye candy. I am talking about major design issues relating to memory, file systems, and multi-threading. I’ll spare you the tit for tat, but suffice it to say, there were ideological difference being fought.
Humans seem to have a handle on what a modern operating should do and how it should do it. I do not mean to suggest that advancements in operating systems will halt. I do mean to suggest that its time to move beyond the operating system debate.
The operating system is becoming a commodity. Winning ideas are being copied. Losing ideas are being discarded. The result is an environment where developers can, for the first time, seriously build cross platform applications. As I interact with my fellow developers, I see them doing just that. The new war of ideas is about what tools and libraries to use to accomplish this. It is far from clear who the winners will be, but there are so many approaches being suggested that its hard to imagine them all surviving the test of time. I am not going to stump for my favorites as this is not the point I am trying to make. The process itself is healthy and will allow us to find the best solutions. If my favorites are not the chosen ones, it will likely be for good reason and I will adapt. For now, its fun working on the puzzle with my fellow developers. Its fun not knowing the answer yet.
Having said all of this, I am utterly stunned that the tech media seems to be so mired in the past. Every site seems to pander to the supporters of one operating system or the other. Week after week they regurgitate the same “my OS is better then your OS” arguments. I think I understand why. I think that journalist have learned that pandering is more popular then educating. We are to blame for this. Like Pavlov’s dog, we have taught them by our collective responses how to get hits to their websites.
Still, if one has any professional integrity, they should want to look back on their careers and see that they things they wrote mattered and were right. My advice to them is to realize that operating system choice matters less and less each day. This is not an “everything is going to be in the cloud” article. Operating system choice won’t matter because even fat client apps will be cross platform. There are so many interesting projects out there that are making this a reality. When you visit those projects, you find developers targeting all operating systems working together. This is the story thats not being told. This is where the tech media is failing to inform you.
Tags: FreeBSD, Linux, Operating Systems, OS X, Solaris, Windows
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