Ah yes...The clear and factual lens of history.
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| dinotrac Oct 14, 2007 10:40 PM EDT |
And, of course, every body remembers that day when RMS said, "Hey, wait a minute!! We don't want to get such a stranglehold on all computing that the glow of our unrelenting brilliance discourages others from trying to innovate for fear that they will be embarrassed by the obvious puniness of their efforts. Let's slow the HURD down so that it takes another twenty years or so to finish. After all, it's already thirty years ahead of its time as it is. Let's give that Finnish kid a chance to write a few lines. He seems to have a little talent. Who knows? In time and with careful supervision, he might even be able to maintain some of the less critical part of EMACS. Maybe a menu box or something." And, of course, we all weep to recall how, after RMS gave so much support and so much help, not to mention re-coding nearly every line of his work, the Finnish kid stabbed RMS in the back and proclaimed "I did it all. Me!! By myself and all alone!!! That's why it's called Linux. That and the fact that I didn't know how to spell supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." Dark times indeed. |
| Bob_Robertson Oct 15, 2007 6:08 AM EDT |
Dino, have you considered writing fiction? |
| jacog Oct 15, 2007 6:10 AM EDT |
It's too Kafka. I didn't understand much of it. |
| dinotrac Oct 15, 2007 6:27 AM EDT |
>Dino, have you considered writing fiction? You mean like journalists? |
| FredMobach Oct 15, 2007 6:27 AM EDT |
And then a guy like Dinotrac accused me of some special Dutch form of humor. ;-) |
| dinotrac Oct 15, 2007 6:34 AM EDT |
>And then a guy like Dinotrac accused me of some special Dutch form of humor. ;-) You're referring to the food, right? |
| Bob_Robertson Oct 15, 2007 8:41 AM EDT |
> You mean like journalists? The tin-foil hats never worked, but the black helicopters were real! Your comment reminds me of Stephen Colbert's address to the Washington Press Corps. Have you seen it? Glorious. |
| tuxchick Oct 15, 2007 8:46 AM EDT |
Criminy dino, aren't there any good sides of your bed to get up on? Aside from the GNU/Linux stuff, I don't see anything incorrect or debatable in the article. |
| jdixon Oct 15, 2007 8:59 AM EDT |
> I don't see anything incorrect or debatable in the article. Well, it would help if English were the writer's primary language. Incorrect, I'll grant (excpet for the GNU/Linux stuff), but I'd say there are number of points which are debatable. I'd have to reread the article to pick them out though, which I'd rather not do. It was too painful the first time. |
| dinotrac Oct 15, 2007 9:02 AM EDT |
TC - Actually, I may have posted that to the wrong article!!! I get groggy in the morning. I read one that more or less gave the history of Linux as "Stallman this, Stallman that, and I think some Finnish kid did something, too." |
| number6x Oct 15, 2007 9:05 AM EDT |
Quoting:"You mean like journalists" dino, Those are analysts writing fiction. Journalists are the ones that cut and paste from company press releases. At least in the technical press. :) |
| dinotrac Oct 15, 2007 9:07 AM EDT |
>At least in the technical press. Nah, I'm thinking bigger than that -- the real masters of modern fiction: The New York Times, Salon, CNN, etc. |
| tuxchick Oct 15, 2007 9:28 AM EDT |
eep double post. all gone now. |
| tuxchick Oct 15, 2007 9:32 AM EDT |
Here dino, have some coffee. I make it strong enough to stand up a spoon. If that doesn't wake you all the way up nothing will. I doubt that my cynicism towards journalism is as much as yours, but I do like how the "pros" are all excited over grubby ole bloggers invading their turf. A crying shame when the amateurs outperform the pros. Something Must Be Done! Preferably something that does not involve the supposed pros doing a better job. :P |
| Bob_Robertson Oct 15, 2007 9:36 AM EDT |
> Something Must Be Done! Preferably something that does not involve the supposed pros doing a better job. :P Vested interests calling on the power of government to make their market captive. It would be funny, in a sad way, if it weren't so awfully _repetitive_. |
| dinotrac Oct 15, 2007 9:38 AM EDT |
>Preferably something that does not involve the supposed pros doing a better job. :P No kidding. Have you ever watched any of those "Reporters' Town Hall" doodads they do from time to time? There will be a minor mea culpa here and there, an earnest declaration that "we could do better", but, in the end, the real problem will be that people don't understand what journalism is. Personally, I think the problem for journalists is that we do. |
| FredMobach Oct 15, 2007 11:37 AM EDT |
> You're referring to the food, right? Not really. To a drink for every bridge you can traverse in Utrecht. :-) |
| dinotrac Oct 15, 2007 11:46 AM EDT |
>Not really. To a drink for every bridge you can traverse in Utrecht. :-) Lemme see... I don't know how many bridges that is... But doesn't a canal run through town? That ought to make for enough bridges to get pretty happy, eh? |
| FredMobach Oct 15, 2007 12:09 PM EDT |
> I don't know how many bridges that is... Public bridges in the center : 41 Private bridges in the center : about the same > But doesn't a canal run through town? Two. > That ought to make for enough bridges to get pretty happy, eh? Like tuxchick said : "Here dino, have some coffee". |
| dinotrac Oct 15, 2007 12:42 PM EDT |
>Like tuxchick said : "Here dino, have some coffee". No...No...I'm fine. I keep this odd feeling, though. I think I was supposed to fly into Schiphol and grab a train out...but... I have this strange floaty feeling... I'm looking up at a grey sky as I float along under bridge after bridge after bridge after bridge... and I've got to tell you... the water...ummm...isn't pleasant. |
| Steven_Rosenber Oct 15, 2007 1:06 PM EDT |
I see that there is a version of Debian out there with some kind of Hurd/Mach kernel. Anybody ever run it? |
| hkwint Oct 15, 2007 1:23 PM EDT |
Must be Debian GNU/Hurd. If I've the time and it has a LiveCD, I will test it.Quoting:I think I was supposed to fly into Schiphol and grab a train out...but... I have this strange floaty feeling... I'm looking up at a grey sky as I float along under bridge after bridge after bridge after bridge... Huh, I don't understand. Dutch Railways used to deploy buses if the rails are blocked? Well, then again, the name 'Schiphol' says it all (if you know what it means). |
| dinotrac Oct 15, 2007 1:36 PM EDT |
>if you know what it means I don't. I just know that it's humongaloid and is the only place I've ever caught a plane into or out of the Netherlands. By the way -- public transit in the Netherlands works very well. Do they still do those strippenkarts (or however it's spelled) on the trams? I remember tram tickets being an honor system with the police checking randomly and issuing tickets (not the kind for a seat) to those who tried to sneak on free. |
| Sander_Marechal Oct 15, 2007 3:33 PM EDT |
Yes, they still use that. But there is a lot of talk about switching to a chip-card based system that will work universally across all public transportation. The Dutch privacy organisations are trying to block that though because the government is trying to gather a lot more data then just whether you bought a ticket or not. They were recently nominated for a "Big Brother" award. |
| dinotrac Oct 15, 2007 8:40 PM EDT |
>They were recently nominated for a "Big Brother" award. That would be impressive given the extent to which London is covered by television cameras. For that matter, my local city of Chicago is deploying cameras faster than the Enterprise could hit warp speed. Too hand with competition like that takes some serious intrusiveness. |
| Sander_Marechal Oct 15, 2007 10:34 PM EDT |
The Big Brother awards are a Dutch "award" show, so that explains why London et. al. weren't nominated. |
| gus3 Oct 15, 2007 11:22 PM EDT |
"Schiphol" == "ship's grave" where the sea was very shallow before the dikes were built |
| dinotrac Oct 16, 2007 3:29 AM EDT |
"Schiphol" == "ship's grave" where the sea was very shallow before the dikes were built Glad I didn't know that when I was using the airport. Shivers. |
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