Penguin Suicide Bombers

I didn't think it was funny, mostly because the first part (about not comparing FLOSS to communism, anarchism, charities, etc) was very true. Then the second part made the exact same mistake that was identified in the first part. Rather sad, really.

I didn't get the humor part, too... I feel ashamed. I though this guy was sick and we should help him...

Quoting:I didn't think it was funny, mostly because the first part (about not comparing FLOSS to communism, anarchism, charities, etc) was very true.

The first part was quite bad as well:

Quoting:open source software is built by a process in which one or more individuals collaborate to create software and then release that software and its source code to the public domain. These individuals are not paid to create the software and they may never make a dime from it.

There are many corporations producing FOSS code, all with paid developers. Code is not released in the public domain but license under an open license. Many, many people make money off FOSS. I'd dare say that paid FOSS developers combined produce more code than the voluntary contributers combined do.

The Author failed to do their research; GNU and BSD-Unix were around long before Microsoft; so what was their evil motivation?

point taken about the other part of the first part

Interestingly he brings up the OSI which makes no statement that proprietary software is an evil that must be expunged, that is the FSF and RMS. Honestly if he chooses to demonize a group of advocates he might have atleast selected the one that more closely matched his description. Then again many people here are familiar with my personal stance on RMS and the FSF, so take that with a grain of whatever.

I am not saying that there arent "penguin suicide bombers" such as he described, I can easily think of a handful that are regulars here on LXer who might qualify such a heady description. Just that for the most part the article was as devoid of fact as it was full of vitriol.

Faceless minions, your comments don't count.

A faceless minion of some unknown entity calling those who support linux faceless minions?

I find that funny.

> I am not saying that there arent "penguin suicide bombers" such as he described, I can easily think of a handful that are regulars here on LXer who might qualify such a heady description.

Naw. Penguin grenade throwers, maybe. But not suicide bombers. We prefer to live to fight another day. :)

... and besides, we're more like penguin ninjas anyway...

tracyanne, you must remember that when your audience is Linux fans it's like the old joke about feminists:

"Did you hear the one about the feminist?" "That's not funny!"

Subtlety is wasted- you need a big blinking sign that says THIS IS SATIRE. NO REALLY! IT IS! IT IS TOO!

> and besides, we're more like penguin ninjas anyway.

http://www.winjutsu.com/

http://california60.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/images-2.jpg

http://rayarray.blogspot.com/2007/08/request-32-ninja-pengui...

TC you and tracyanne can tell me it's humor or satire or freshly printed money, I don't see it. I see topical ignorance so glaring as to render any reading, with humorous eye or serious to be painful.

It's difficult even to negatively comment on the piece as it is written in such a way as to paint any detractor as a rabid penguinista. So on it's technical merits alone, it's content is deranged and it's author ignorant (m-w definition, not vernacular).

I not only wasted my time reading it, I continue to waste my time calling it a steaming pile of inaccurate preconceived excrement, of no value in humor or technical accuracy other than a talking point.

Bob: Great finds! Also: http://xkcd.com/225/

Hehehe :-)

Might be because of a difference in the senses of humor of those in the US and Australia (the others versus tracyanne). The latter tend to be much less respectful and incendiary than the former. Believe me I found out the hard way...

TC -

Quoting:Subtlety is wasted- you need a big blinking sign that says THIS IS SATIRE. NO REALLY! IT IS!

So I see TC.

azerthoth

Quoting:it's content is deranged

Absolutely, so deranged, in fact, that it's impossible that the author not be very aware of exactly what FOSS is.

this

Quoting:Some of this stuff is fairly serious, like the "Proof of God" stuff,

is a dead give away.

and

Quoting:If you can't watch South Park because you get offended easily, then DON'T read this stuff. Or if you DO read it, don't be surprised if you get offended.

You were warned.

Can I be a Linux Anarchist?

I want to be a Protaganistic Antagonist.

I thought the W3C xhtml 1.0 seal of approval was a dead giveaway that the piece was humor. If you go to the "about" link they have articles like "Why Vegetarians are Stupid" and "Why Vegetarians are Still Stupid".

I think it's a good example of proper use of logic with a few wrong assumptions sprinkled in as seasoning to yield a spicy result.

> Can I be a Linux Anarchist?

First we need to figure out what an Anarchist is: Free Market, or Chaosist?

http://www.mises.org/etexts/longanarchism.pdf

http://www.mises.org/story/1855

I predict hordes of over-literal staunch defenders of Linux will not appreciate this piece at all. I think it's brilliant- it takes all the propaganda and FUD from both supporters and detractors, dresses it up in faux-scholarly language, and and serves it up all in a single tasty dish. Very nicely done.

I kept looking at my calendar while reading the piece. Had to make sure it wasn't April 1st.

The writing style in in the About section reminds me of Supershadow.com - all we need is for the Observer to refer to themselves in the 3rd person....