Choose the right tool to do the job and be happy.
I am a professional programmer. GNU/Linux is a child of hacker
culture. I make no apologies for being an admirer of hacker culture.
GNU/Linux is hacker heaven and Windows is hacker hell. GNU/Linux
provides the toolset I require (for free). I have no expectations of
what others from other professions make of all this.
For clarification on the precise meaning of hacker I have appended the
following definitions from the Jargon File 4.0.0. The definition of
the hacker ethic(1) should help to explain where GNU/Linux is coming
from. This is a completely different stance from commercial software
and to talk of a competition between the two camps is to miss the
point. There is no competition (although of course closed commercial
enterprises may well feel threatened).
:hacker: /n./ [originally, someone who makes furniture with an
axe] 1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable
systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most
users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. 2. One who
programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys
programming rather than just theorizing about programming. 3. A
person capable of appreciating {hack value}. 4. A person who is
good at programming quickly. 5. An expert at a particular program,
or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in `a Unix
hacker'. (Definitions 1 through 5 are correlated, and people who
fit them congregate.) 6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One
might be an astronomy hacker, for example. 7. One who enjoys the
intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing
limitations. 8. [deprecated] A malicious meddler who tries to
discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence `password
hacker', `network hacker'. The correct term for this sense is
{cracker}.
The term `hacker' also tends to connote membership in the global
community defined by the net (see {network, the} and
{Internet address}). It also implies that the person described
is seen to subscribe to some version of the hacker ethic (see
{hacker ethic}).
It is better to be described as a hacker by others than to describe
oneself that way. Hackers consider themselves something of an
elite (a meritocracy based on ability), though one to which new
members are gladly welcome. There is thus a certain ego
satisfaction to be had in identifying yourself as a hacker (but if
you claim to be one and are not, you'll quickly be labeled
{bogus}). See also {wannabee}.
:hacker ethic: /n./ 1. The belief that information-sharing
is a powerful positive good, and that it is an ethical duty of
hackers to share their expertise by writing free software and
facilitating access to information and to computing resources
wherever possible. 2. The belief that system-cracking for fun and
exploration is ethically OK as long as the cracker commits no
theft, vandalism, or breach of confidentiality.
Both of these normative ethical principles are widely, but by no
means universally, accepted among hackers. Most hackers subscribe
to the hacker ethic in sense 1, and many act on it by writing and
giving away free software. A few go further and assert that
*all* information should be free and *any* proprietary
control of it is bad; this is the philosophy behind the {GNU}
project.
Sense 2 is more controversial: some people consider the act of
cracking itself to be unethical, like breaking and entering. But
the belief that `ethical' cracking excludes destruction at least
moderates the behavior of people who see themselves as `benign'
crackers (see also {samurai}). On this view, it may be one of
the highest forms of hackerly courtesy to (a) break into a system,
and then (b) explain to the sysop, preferably by email from a
{superuser} account, exactly how it was done and how the hole
can be plugged -- acting as an unpaid (and unsolicited) {tiger
team}.
The most reliable manifestation of either version of the hacker
ethic is that almost all hackers are actively willing to share
technical tricks, software, and (where possible) computing
resources with other hackers. Huge cooperative networks such as
{Usenet}, {FidoNet} and Internet (see {Internet address})
can function without central control because of this trait; they
both rely on and reinforce a sense of community that may be
hackerdom's most valuable intangible asset.
--
--Simon Cousins--01203 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
---
http://nts.ml.org
FAQ: http://www.ps.uci.edu/~tomba/inspiron/
http://nts.ml.org/inspiron/
List Archives: http://nts.ml.org/inspiron/maillist.html
To unsubscribe send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
List administrator: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
