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Linux Software

Computerworld article on Linux "Silliness" 60

Posted by CmdrTaco from the brace-yourself-for-the-insanity dept.
An anonymous reader sent us a link to an article that expresses the most amazing cluelessness about Linux I've seen yet outside of the creative panel that brings us Jesse Berst. A few good points, and a bunch of obnoxious flame dragging statements that make me irritable. It's like he's trying to bait Slashdot readers. Don't take the bait. This one isn't worth it.
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Computerworld article on Linux "Silliness" More

Computerworld article on Linux "Silliness"

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    • MacOS -- stupid-looking face, Mac with face on the title screen.
    • BSD -- Chuck the BSD Daemon.
    • Windows -- a warped window frame that looks like a flag (of conquering army?), with something (stripes? broken bits?) flying after it, looks like a flag on their screensaver, something like flag in the sky on the title screen.

    If there is a problem with something in those logos, it's a lack of humor on M$ part -- this is probably why M$ followers see others' logos/maskots as silly.

  • Oh you are one of those quitters, eh?
  • The problem is this person didn't offer *any* constructive criticism.
    He just offered his opinion, and some uniformed "facts".

    Constructive criticism would be: "Linux has great potential but is missing a user friendly user interface."

    All this guy had to offer was "Their logo sucks." and "I think all the other Linux developers are out there to make ME(Linus) look good." (Taken from the out of context "I don't care about you people" quote)

    All I saw in this article was potential FUD for more IT managers to use against Linux.
  • and it was good.
    ^~~^~^^~~^~^~^~^^~^^~^~^~~^^^~^^~~^~~~^~~^~

  • heh.. (Score:1)

    by ninjaz ( 1202 )
    This line:
    I suppose we can all be thankful that Linus doesn?t have a thing for something really disgusting like maggots or cockroaches, because penguins are certainly pleasant enough to look at.
    had me laugh out loud just picturing the possiblities..

    As for the rest, it sounds mostly like he's pissed off that other people are having fun, mixed in with not understanding human nature (people wanting the reward of tangiable things for themselves before "The common good"), and not doing his fact checking... Linus called it "Freax", dammit. ;)

    Besides, the success and future of Linux aren't just about corporate strategy. The corporates may well stand more to gain from Linux (by getting a level playing field for their products) than Linux does from the corporates (getting a few more apps) ... If your company dies because microsoft absorbed your application's functionality into windows, you're SOL. Linux was doing quite well without Brand X's latest product. :)

  • Penguins don't/can't run anywhere near 100mph.

    Umm...of course they can't. What culture do you belong to that doesn't recognise that Linus post as humour? It's like the quote about Linus just being lazy and not caring about other people. Is this type of humour really that obscure? This isn't a flame, I'm really interested as I'm sure that humour does vary from place to place....I'm just not sure to what extent.

    dylan_-


    --

  • There. See I missed the humor because I automatically assumed he was talking about a penguin under water, perhaps in a SeaQuarium. I don't know the top speed for a swimming penguin, but I can't imagine a more graceful swimmer.

    My favorite penguin quality is that powerful image of the male emperor pengiun sitting on an egg in a near coma through the Antarctic winter 200 miles inland for weeks. No sun, hurricane force winds and 70 below. He just stands there and keeps the next generation alive. And when the female comes to relieve him in the spring and the egg hatches, he waddles with the rest single file for that 200 miles back to the ocean for breakfast. Beat that for a mascot. Especially considering that we have only just come onto Microsoft's radar, and we are lilkely to be in for a long, cold struggle from here.

    Linux-keep the dream alive.

  • Not too bad, he certainly hit on some of the less flattering characteristics of professional {Linux,Mac,Amiga} zealots. Or at least, something that most people tend to associate with {said OSes}.

    Case in point being CmdrTaco's take on it. Relax, laugh, go on with your life. Etc.
  • I would say he nailed it.
    The logo sucks.
    The idolatry of Linus is pathetic.
    The comparison to going to the dance is right on the money.

    I guess I am tired, but I just finished fighting with Gnome. And you think Windows crashes?

    Get over it. No flame for that guy. Two thumbs up.
  • Hey, we are just having fun. Tux is cool. And so is Linus... humble, and honest. It wasn't even him that named the kernel Linux.

    This guy doesn't matter. Professionalism (I'm assuming that was his point) only gets you so far. Eventually, you have to show the code. Since Linux wasn't developed to "take over the world," why bother with the formality? It just makes the coding/testing/recoding process a whole lot less fun. I'm sure enough of us have to worry about the suits at work... who the hell would want to bring THAT home?

    Let's get back to coding... :)
  • ... why, oh why, does it have to be about "Linux everywhere?" I've no problem with Linux everywhere, but what kind of goal is that? And no matter what the goal(s), is there something wrong with having quite a bit of fun getting there? If some people are uncomfortable with that, they are still free to use Linux without buying a stuffed penguin.

    I agree it shouldn't get in the way, but the goal shouldn't get in the way of the fun, either. Nobody has to 'join.' But alot of people could stand to lighten up about life in general... and alot of things in the Linux community lean that way. Nothing wrong with it, at least to my eyes. I find it refreshing, in fact.

    A big thing to remember (and a LOT of people seem to overlook this lately...) Linux has as many goals as it has users and developers. That's the way it always has been... and should remain.
  • The author is incorrect in claiming the Linus named Linux after himself. Linux named the OS Frenix. A freind of his coined the name Linux and it stuck.

    Troy
  • I sure don't remember the last time any of my hardware won any battles against Microsoft. Usually it just curls up in the corner and whimpers.

  • Some people have told me they don't think a fat penguin really embodies
    the grace of Linux, which just tells me they have never seen a angry
    penguin charging at them in excess of 100mph. They'd be a lot more
    careful about what they say if they had. -- Linus Torvalds


    'nuff said.
  • Why the hell should he care much about you? Does he know you personally? No, I didn't think so. I sure don't care about you much, and I don't know you, either. Even if I did know you, I probably wouldn't care much about you, because it doesn't sound like you're the sort of person I care about.

    You're the sort of person who would get miffed because {insert celebrity here} doesn't wave back at you in the crowd.

    Geez, he's just being honest. He didn't say that he wished the crowd would rot in hell or something.

    Silly hysterical people.
  • Hey let's face it. Every geek I've ever known
    has a massive silly side to him/her.
    And where did Linux rise from? And what kind of
    people made it the glorious piece of work that it
    is?
    Geeks built and maintain Linux. Linux is so
    awesome, because the geeks know how to do things
    right. And a fundamental goal of Linux is to
    have fun with it. So a little silliness spilled
    in. The fact that world domination is happening
    is a direct consequence to building such a high
    quality system. Oh sure, we could be professional
    with a low-quality system like some other OS
    company. But I think we see where that leads
    in terms of user satisfaction.

    Have a great day, everyone.

  • OS/2 ? (Score:1)

    by Thag ( 8436 )
    The OS/2 users put up a good fight, but in the end lost to the powerful press controlled by Microsoft, and take heed linux users- the same thing can happen to you if you ar enot careful!
    Not really. The two situations aren't that similar. OS/2 needed to sell lots of copies of the OS in order to keep going. It needed lots of people buying software to encourage developers to write new software for the platform. The business plan was dependant on getting a chunk of the business world's desktops that never arrived.

    Linux, on the other hand, is freeware and does not depend on income or market share to keep going. Those help, to be sure, but aren't part of the base conditions for success.

    Jon

  • "Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong"

    Oscar Wilde
  • Then you must not read comp.unix.advocacy.

    But seriously, even I, the avoider of Linux, caught a factual error in this article -- I have it on good authority that Linus had to be talked into naming the OS Linux instead of Freax.

    Curmudgeonliness is good and right, but a curmudgeon who doesn't have his research straight is nothing but a common flamer.

  • well, as a Hong Kong people, I feel ashamed that this kind of article would even appear in those so-called "mainstream" magazines. But luckily this is only an exception.

    IT people in Hong Kong is beginning to take notice of Linux, and many univ / college students are using Linux. But only a "beginning" thou.

    There's also a LUG in Hong Kong. Not a professional org as it should be, but since this LUG is new, I think it'll be better later.

  • Hey, there's linux for mac's. right? =) Personally, if your gonna run linux, run it on the systems it was orginally made for.

    hehe, hate it when i forget my password =)
  • I got the joke, but I was a little upset that they put down Linus so strongly. Why shouldn't people want to meet the guy in person? I'm sure there are plenty of people who want to meet Bill, after all.

    We don't have a BillOS because Bill doesn't have a personal link to it. He paid people to write it, that's all. Linux is Linux because the design and philosophy came out of the heart and mind of one person.

    D

    ----
  • Hey, don't go dissing "The Microsoft Sound!" I wonder who the idiot at M$ was though who set the "Ta-Da!" (original start sound) to be the default shutdown wound instead... Used to be "Ta-Da! You're Starting Windows!" but now it's changed to "Ta-Da! You're Rebooting into Linux!"
  • Our beloved Tux is there because he got bit because he made his finger look like a herring at a zoo.
    Penguins don't/can't run anywhere near 100mph.
    Some guy thought it'd be a funny excuse for a linux penguin.
    Talk to Larry Ewing about it, He drew Tux and Linus saw it and liked it. That's it. Linus is fond of penguins tho.

    As far as the article goes, Rob is right. It's not worth any time writing to him.
    "Those who can can, and those who can't teach (or write slanderous non-accurate critique's)"
    The guys a loser, who likes his sound effects and a FLAG (want to talk about a stupid logo.. I could see a window but a f*'in flag?) in every free corner of his desktop. He'll be out of a job in a few years if Linux keeps on gaining momentum like it is.
    That's a thought to keep your dreams happy.
    (And Bill being forced to use Linux when he has to get a real job because M$ crumbles)
    delusions.. no, just wishful thinking.
  • Do some Linux users have such fragile egos that they cannot cope with a little constructive criticism of their beloved OS? I use both Windows and Linux, simply because Windows is better suited to some of the things I do (e.g. games and web-browsing), while Linux is better for coding (I'm a university student studying computer science) and is generally more fun to tinker with. Several years ago I used to be an Amiga fanatic myself, and it wasn't until Commodore went bust and I bought a PC that I learnt to appreciate the different merits of different computers and operating systems. To any Linux zealots reading: if you have a problem with my use of Windows, then hurry up and develop more Linux equivalents to Windows programs, instead of flaming anyone who dares to use an operating system other than Linux.
  • I'd rather hear Linus say "I don't really care about you people" than to hear him lie and say something like "truly, you are all very important to me."
  • I think the default shutdown wound was a deep puncture to the calf, but I changed mine to a relatively minor papercut and have been much happier with the operating system as a whole.
  • I like the penguin. It was the penguin that convinced me to go ahead and make the switch over from Wind'oh!s. I like being associated with an OS that has a mascot that looks so damn happy. --
  • You nailed it...Linux needs Apps that work like the stuff everybody in Windows land has used for years. Even Linus himself conceded something like this at the last LinuxWorld.

    Computers are a means to an end, not an end unto themselves. And if that's true for computers, its doubly so for operating systems. Though arcane, bloated, and slow, Windows makes the world go round because its got the Apps most people want.

    The Linux zealots and their criticizers will always be there, but they'll never be remembered for clever remarks or shameless flame throwing.
    The folks, quiet or not, who actually heed Linus' advice and make apps which beget more users which beget more apps, which beget more users, and so on and so on and so on, will be remembered for actually DOING something useful. If they're smart about it, they can also get rich.
  • I was under the impression that NT stood for Northern Telecom.

    New Technology works for me too. When you get to the point that acronyms the mean more than the original long name I guess it doesn't matter.

    Yesterday it worked.
    Today is is not working.
    Windows it like that.

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