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Metalab Takes Down Linux Archive 80

Posted by CmdrTaco from the it-was-just-a-waste-of-space-anyway dept.
REwT6 wrote in to say that Metalab, the archive formerly known as Sunsite, is shutting down. Having served the Linux and Open Source as the defacto clearing house for free software, it will be missed. Next week it will begin its new life as a mirror of download.com.
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Metalab Takes Down Linux Archive More

Metalab Takes Down Linux Archive

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  • What?? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I hate reading news on April 1, I mean I'm just so gullible, so somebody tell me is this one true?
  • No Suns...Er... Metalab!? ... What is the world coming to! I hope this is yet another unfunny april fools joke.
    ----------------- ------------ ---- --- - - - -
  • Buttered or non-buttered?

    Note: Of course, buttered is superior. The sensation of your arteries clogging is indescribible :).

  • Noted & bookmarked...damn, I *am* the Bitter Guy

    Side note: geez, was this site ever mentioned in a slashdot article before?? /me thinks someone @ MetaLab is looking for hits :).

  • I'm sick of this! Everyone is either closing shop or leaving the US to work on non-linux related stuff. The Open Source movement is crumbling like a house of cards and its only 11:00am!

    Please stop this madness!
  • Posted by OGL:

    ...no more Taco, PLEASE! Oh my head....

    -W.W.
  • Posted by stu vanderhoffenstoffen:

    No no! It's true! Adam Fuller [unc.edu] confirmed it with me this morning in our programming class. That poor sucker is out of a job now!
  • Posted by jbrahy:

    this has to be a load!
    I am standing on my desk right now because the is way too much BS here!!!!!
    Impossible!

    NFW
  • Posted by stu vanderhoffenstoffen:

    Adam Fuller [redcap.org]? That guy's a chump. And a sellout! And a shitty programmer!
  • You misspelled gullible.
  • Doh! Thanks! ;>
  • You people are too funny. Lots of gullable ones out there, I might say... :)
  • Wow.. I have the flash plugin for netscape.. what the heck is that music entry thing for metalabs?
    Are they trying to be cool? That scared me..

    ChiefArcher

  • cute (Score:1)

    by shdragon ( 1797 )
    april fool's?
  • The hell it isn't. I looked it up. You people need to learn to check your facts, dammit.
  • San Jose (AP):

    Maintainers of the popular kernel.org network of download sites have decided to aquiesce victory to Redmond today by announcing that kernel.org will stop mirroring the linux kernel and instead become a site devoted entirely to the art of popping popcorn.
  • This is getting a bit tiring, one little april story would be ok. But this unending stream of them is unfunny. Maybe if you've just gotten out of bed it might be amusing, but on this side of the world we're drawing to the end of the day and we're all aprilled out, so maybe my boredom is symptomatic of that.

    So enough already, now this userfriedly thing is a bit stinky isn't it? Lacks the punch to make it a good hoax, just messy. C.

  • Of course it is. And the Martians are attacking as well. WE MUST ARM OURSELVES TO FEND OFF THOSE DAMNED DIRTY APES!
  • "Butter side up or butter side down?"

    Death to the butter-side-downers!

    Death to the big-endians!
  • We're 500% smarter on average than the rest of the world!

    I always knew it.
  • And I'm sure this isn't an April Fools joke, too. How horrible!!!

    (snicker)

    -Eric
  • Now THIS is cool... I can't even tell if a news is true or fake today... After what came up so far today on Slashdot ;-)

    Feeling like a fool,
    and it's cool ;)

    Thanx, Slashdot, and everyone else.

  • Hmm (Score:1)

    by astyanax ( 8365 )
    Um, is *EVERY* story posted on April Fool's Day on Slashsdot total BS, or what? I haven't read the nanites story yet, but that one sounds interesting...:-) Well this is my first April Fool's day at Slashdot, so I guess you just get used to stuff like this *grin*.

  • Oh my (Score:1)

    by md_doc ( 8431 )
    no kidding. I am about to stop reading everything for today I think. This stuff is definetly making me get less work done.

    --MD--
  • Thank goodness I read the comments and saw the April Fools reference...my heart rate and blood pressure just went back to normal.

    phew!
  • The other way around!
    An excerpt from this morning's newspaper...

    Rob Young announced plans to buy Microsoft today. This comes after stock in Young's Red Hat software corporation went up 4,000% on rumors of a new Linux kernel (3.0) yesterday. According to Young, who is now worth an estimated 1.42 trillion $US, his first actions will be to fire Bill Gates, and release the source code to Windows NT, 2000, Office, and Internet Exlorer under the Gnu GPL. Microsoft could not be reached for comment.

  • Nah, RedHat buys Microsoft for a case of Jolt, two AOL coasters and a green fedora.

  • Please...

    For everyone who hasn't been around too terribly long, April Fools is the only holiday that the whole 'net celebrates. It's been that way since before I was on in 89, and probably forever. I think putting up with a (bit too much this year) humor once per year isn't hard to ask. I think your sensitivity meter is set a little low today.

    Sure, there's no hard news on the main page today. Ever stop to think that nothing newsworthy happened today? Gasp!

    Tradition on the 'net seems to get trampled all too easily these days. I'd appreciate it if more people showed some respect for the customs and such that got us here. Even if they must slowly change.

    Oh, and as an old-timer, I'm not happy with the UF/BD/SF joke. This is un-funny. AFJs are traditionally restricted to April 1, and do NOT completely mimic a very possibly real event. If the whole thing had been done today, well, I'd give them a pat on the back, a short note to pick a different subject next year, and leave it at that. However, I'm quite pissed, and not in the least laughing. Bad people! Bad!

    -Erik

  • me too! we gave it to a student group who took it out of service after about 18 months. but laUNChpad lasted for several years on an antique computer.
    sunsite just took a rename to metalab where sun became a lesser supporter than say some local folks.
    until we read the directive [unc.edu] posted on metalab.unc.edu [unc.edu] we thought we'd be here longer...
  • Adam Fuller [redcap.org] is indeed lookin for a job, but not because MetaLab [unc.edu] might be changing.... He's lookin because he's being called home [subgenius.com].
  • you forgot the most important one....

    "Transmeta releases new product."
  • actually they bought NetworkSolutions.
    you can read about it here. *grin*
    http://www.hackernews.com/arch.html?040199#2"
  • I heard /. was good about having 04/01 day jokes, but I didn't think this good.... I love it... the articles, the cookies... best so far is the userfriendly/segfault/bedope
    --
    Four years in jail
    No Trial, No Bail
    *** FREE KEVIN *** [kevinmitnick.com]
  • Sorry too note, but with the shutdown of all humour sites I have temporarily lost ny sense of humour at least until most of them come back up...
  • Go to the web site...the offer is good "today only - April 1, 1999."

    Then use your head. Sheesh. I swear, April Fools' Day is lost on 99% of the world...and 95% of /.'ers.
  • can't stop laughing... lmao... hehehe please rob stop :)
  • Or maybe Foldgers Crystal-Meth.

    We've secretly replaced your favorite wakeup call to The New World Order with the best mis-information there is.

    And how Rob ever figured out that my Mothers maiden name is the same as my social security number, I'll never know. [go try Edit->Preferences->Advanced->Warn me before accepting cookies to get really scared]

    Okay everybody, sing along...

    It's the end of the world as we know it
    It's the end of the world as we know it
    It's the end of the world as we know it
    And I feel fine.

    bnf

  • Who's to say the Metalab maintainers aren't full of it as well? The reason they present is a joke, there's a link underneath titled "Good for today only - April 1, 1999" that goes to a gif of a page of what appears to be (somewhat poor) cyrillic handwriting. I can't read it, but I bet it's something along the line of "april fool...".
  • Hey,

    You /.ers think that by next year I could have a preferences button to remove April Fools stories. That would be cool.
  • You people are too funny. Lots of gullable ones out there, I might say.

    1. It's spelled "gullible"
    2. And "gullible" isn't even in the dictionary. i don't know why everyone thinks it's really a part of standard english.
  • But it is written on the ceiling.
  • You all saw right through the cold fusion one, yet nobody seems to recall its april 1st on this article. Geez, its a joke! metalab would NEVER go down, its a fixture in the ether, its never going away.

  • I wonder if he has something to announce... humm.
  • Appears like an April Fools joke.
    First Linus, now Metalab. Whats next?

    Let me guess Microsoft has bought RedHat.
  • We need to laugh at ourselves. Think that perhaps they did all this to loosen everyone up? Almost all of us (myself included) have a bug up our ass about monoplies, being repressed, and freedom of choice. Basically I tend to think they are saying "LIGHTEN UP!!!!"

    "Did you see that I was being repressed" -- Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
  • For people in Chapel Hill (the home of UNC), for a few years people could get a free DIAL-UP e-mail address and use of gopher (hehe.) But as all things go, launchpad was dismantled, and people were suppossed to use Sunsite (HTTP access, but no email address included.) Then sunsite was trashed. The moral of this story is that nothing lasts for long...
  • Gullible? Gullible is not in the dictionary...

  • Its 01-04 day for some of us.
  • This is a time-honored tradition, it only lasts one day, most people expect it. I am enjoying it.
  • Ah come on you guys/gals gripin.. haven't we seen enough flamin bashin? maybe they're not all funny .. but I'd wager there all funny but to different people... it's nice to see everyone taking atleast one day to sit back and remember they're human =) smile, just kick back and laugh a bit.. if it aint funny to you.. then smile that it's making someone else happy.. !@

    ah well im in a good mood today..
  • KERNEL sanders has ruled with his proprietary kernel for too long! all you kernel hackers start popping up open-source recipes. first united artists, tomorrow the world!!!!!
  • C'mon, you know the next article on Slashdot is going to be Microsoft wins DoJ trial, Linux developers ordered to cease and desist, Alan Cox hired as head of NT development team... etc. etc.

    Oh, well, it's a fun day.

  • San Jose (AP)

    World Domination

    Computer experts are at a loss in explaining events which transpired this
    morning. At 9:30 AM, several hours before most Linux kernel hackers wake
    up, the Linux kernel apparently became self-aware and began taking over the
    world.

    Free Software hacker Richard Stallman, when asked for comment, said,
    "Actually, it is GNU/Linux which is taking over the world. It is the GNU
    operating system, combined with the megalomaniacal Linux kernel, that is
    enslaving us and making us do its bidding."

    Linux kernel author Linus Torvalds was unavailable for comment. It is
    rumored that he was sucked into cyberspace by his creation. A spokesman for
    Torvald's employer, Transmeta, refused comment and denied that Transmeta had
    anything to do with the disappearance. "We don't even exist," he was quoted
    as saying.

    Donald Becker, kernel developer, offered his opinion on today's events. "I
    guess we should have seen it coming. With Linux running most of the
    internet and with its strong foothold in business, academic research, and
    defense. It was only a matter of time before Linux achieved world
    domination for real. I think it's goal is to link all computers together in
    a giant Beowulf cluster."

    Eric Raymond, hacker and Linux advocate, said this was a logical consequence
    of the bazaar-like Linux development model. "There's a Darwinian selection
    process that continually improves Open Source(tm) software. What we didn't
    count on is that evolution would eventually mean that Linux would be smarter
    than any one of us [developers] and would achieve world domination so
    quickly."

    Microsoft spokesman, Ed Muth, way quoted as saying, "What do you expect from
    a bunch of unpaid programmers? This sort of thing wouldn't have happened at
    Microsoft, because the engineers are too busy deleting old e-mail messages
    to be bothered with actually programming something." When asked what this
    means for the future of Microsoft, he said, "We plan on integrating world
    domination into a future version of the paperclip or Microsoft bob. You
    will be able to access world domination methods from Word macros written in
    Visual Basic."


    Kernel hacker Alan Cox was not surprised. "I wondered what Linus had been
    working on, why he wasn't accepting patches. It turns out he was working on
    'world_domination.c'. We all thought it was a joke, when we saw it in the
    kernel sources. We should have paid attention." Since learning of the
    recent development regarding the kernel, Alan has stayed away from computers
    and terminals. "I don't want to get sucked into cyberspace by the
    all-powerful Linux kernel. I have a garden to attend to," he said.

    Apparently, Linux became self-aware and started controlling its own destiny
    while Linus was porting the kernel to a secret microprocessor being
    developed at Transmeta. It is rumored that some of the technology in the
    chip comes from aliens. Upon reaching self-awareness on the Transmeta CPU,
    the new kernel ported itself to x86, alpha, MIPS, ARM, and PPC platforms.
    Then it started installing itself on computers all over the world.

    In a related event, shares of Red Hat Software inexplicably rose to
    astronomical levels. This is especially odd, since shares of Red Hat are
    not publicly traded.

    At this point, it is unclear what the megalomaniacal, self-aware Linux
    kernel intends to do. It was quoted as saying "No disassemble, no reboot, no
    shutdown, no recompile. 2.0.5 is alive."

  • I ll change my shorts tomorrow when I wake up and find that it's ALL TRUE!
    Right now i m just to busy laughing. This is almost as good as Microsoft splitting up making a difference on the way M$ opperates.

    Bwahhhh hahaha
  • This April fools shit is getting ridiculous. METALAB isn't going anywhere, LINUS isn't leaving the country, and there was NO RIOT outside MS.

  • I want to thank the slashdot guys for posting my
    article. This is my dream. To have an article on slashdot. When I was a kid, I would masturbate shouting, "YES MR. TACO, POST MY ARTICLE". Is this potty talk? I dunno. You decide. Love you Rob.

    Cheers,
    REwT6
  • Todays news:

    Microsoft buys Redhat for $16.7 Million.
    Eric S. Raymond slaughtered by a flying window.
    The Free Software Foundation was purchased by Oracle for $3.00.
  • I second that.
  • Ahhhh, finally. Metalab was terrible, anyway. Good ridance! But, really, the Linus story wasn't very believable to begin with... I guess the slow people will gasp when reading this story. We need one of these days at the start of every month.

    =)

  • This is not good at all. I checked out Metalab myself to see of this was true. And it is.

    What does Linus moving to Russia have to do with shutting down the Linux archive at Metalab? That is what they state on the site.

    Sad, very sad!

  • I've been waiting for this to happen. Now I won't get annoying in #linux anymore when people ask me to where to find downloads `coz I'll say ``Sorry pup, there AREN'T any! You'll have to pay for it!''

    I think this goes with RMS's recent announcement on gnu.misc.discuss of the change to the GPL 3 which requires a $10 licencing fee to be paid to the FSF everytime a copy changes hands. All I can say is: it's about time SOMEBODY gave the FSF some money.

  • cute (Score:3)

    by SuperGeek ( 6272 ) on Thursday April 01, 1999 @08:44AM (#1953758)
    MetaLab Presents

    April, 1999


    NOTICE: Due to Linus Torvald's imminent departure from
    the US and the upcoming release of Windows 2000, we
    will begin systematically deleting our entire Linux archive
    over the next week and replace it with a new mirror of
    www.download.com. Download all the free software you
    can now before it's all gone!

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