Breen,
I am replying to this in full because I want my intentions known.
I'll leave it at this.
On 12/10/2006, at 2:58 AM, Breen Ouellette wrote:
Jack J. Woehr wrote:
On Oct 10, 2006, at 5:38 PM, Shane J Pearson wrote:
By "interesting", you mean one is well meaning, but a little
kooky and not always in touch with reality and the other is
focused and committed to maintaining some sanity in the world of
computing?
No, I didn't mean that. I meant that both gentlemen are personal
friends of mine
and that the contrast between these two giants of free and open
source software
could hardly be more striking.
Obviously there are elements trying to start an RMS/GNU versus TdR/
BSD holy war.
If you are referring to me, you are right off the mark. I never
mentioned GNU or BSD and had no intention of starting anything. It
was just a throw-away comment in support of the OpenBSD leadership.
If you don't find it interesting that two men could take a stand
for free and open ideals, and yet interpret those ideals so
differently, then fine, it isn't interesting to you.
I never said it was not interesting.
If you don't like RMS (or TdR for that matter) or his version of
free and open ideals, then fine, you have the right to feel that
way in most locales. I'm not particularly fond of RMS' views and
ideas myself.
I very much respect both, but lean towards Theo's ideals and line of
practical thinking, which is always very thought provoking for me.
But that is just me. I wouldn't waste time trying to start a flame
war, because this is just my opinion and I don't want to waste misc@
users time.
I do now see that I probably just should have kept my opinion to
myself, because it could be misinterpreted and was probably not worth
mentioning.
But when you reply to the original poster's message feigning that
you don't understand his point, well, then you come across as
stupid. An inquisitive child could understand the difference
between these two mens' views, and understand that some people
might find it interesting.
Who are you referring to with this? Am I the stupid person for
finding a vague comment to be vague? If I don't ask, then I can only
make assumptions with something like:
'...um... "interesting"'
And my comment was mostly meant in jest.
Really, truly stupid. And willing to share it with the rest of the
world on a public mailing list, no less! Brilliant!
I, when confronted with a vague comment, ask a question for
clarification. Which admittedly was meant more of a humorous,
rhetorical question.
Whereas you, confronted with something also vague (to a lesser
extent), choose to read a LOT into it and then go on the attack,
publicly with a tirade against a bunch of incorrect assumptions.
So which is more stupid?
If you want to start a holy war about the merits of these two
positions then start a thread, preferably somewhere else, and howl
into the wind. Nobody cares. We've all made up our minds about
which side of the fence we are on. You aren't going to change my
mind, or anyone else's. You are only making yourselves out to be a
bunch of idiots.
I think you have rather made quite the arse of yourself, Breen. I can
now see the danger of a holy war erupting from my oversight, but
mostly due to presumptuous people like you, who shoot first then ask
questions later.
This sure doesn't help the image of the OpenBSD user base at all.
When we aren't taken seriously it is, in part, because of childish
melodrama like this thread.
Frankly, I don't much worry about the perception of the OpenBSD user
base, because I think any negative perceptions towards it as a whole
would be unfounded. There are idiots in every user camp. However this
user camp makes up for them and then some, with some really helpful
decent people on the list.
I just temporarily put them on my twit list. But in the past 7 years
or so, I've only put ONE person from misc@ in my twit list and I've
since taken them off, now that they've become more reasonable.
PS - Jack, some friendly advice, you are only encouraging them each
time you reply. They obviously don't care about why you find
interest in this subject. They only want to find a way to link you
to RMS and then trash you.
You find a lot of things "obvious" for a guy who is so presumptuous.
For the record, I respect the intentions of RMS and I highly respect
the intentions and practical thinking of Theo, the OpenBSD project,
the developers and much of the user base. I've been enjoying OpenBSD
since 2.5 and I try to buy OpenBSD items and donate whenever I am
financially able. I tried to donate brand new SCSI disks when Theo
asked for them for the older machines and I purchased a brand new
SCSI card for an Aussie developer and had it sent to him, while I was
mostly unemployed with small funds. My intentions are honourable
here. I messed up by touching something that could be controversial.
But really, I was pro OpenBSD in an OpenBSD list. So shoot me.
If you are referring to me (which I think is a safe assumption based
on your quoting), then you've read way too much into *my* opinion.
I'll be careful in the future to try to avoid accidentally becoming
the catalyst to the few overly sensitive folks here.
Shane J Pearson
shanejp netspace net au
