On Thu, 2005-06-23 at 01:44 +0800, Sacha Chua wrote: > Dean Michael Berris <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > Let's say someone actually believes that Linux is for Losers. Would > > you accept someone who idolizes some BSD guy call you a loser when > > he sees you hacking on something really important (to you at least) > > in Linux? Especially someone at least a decade your junior? I think > > not. Or at least I won't. > > Oy, dude, no age discrimination. ;) Someone at least a decade your > senior can also dis you for all the wrong reasons. >
hehe. :D Let me rephrase: Especially someone at least a decade your junior who just learned C programming 10 minutes ago and has never seen even a line of either *BSD kernel or Linux kernel source code in his/her (without the gender discrimination ;) ) so called life. I know I won't take it from someone like that -- or anyone for that matter. Of course I could turn a blind eye and choose to ignore, but I might choose otherwise. Really depends on how good my day is (or was) and how "forgiving" I feel. ;) > If people think I'm a loser 'cause I use Linux (more likely a psycho > 'cause I use Emacs), well, their loss! They look at technology without > seeing the context. Technology doesn't exist in a vacuum. Technology > is created and used by people, and value is a personal concept. To > flatly deny the value of something without even considering it is to > close your mind to ideas you can borrow to improve whatever you're > working on. Not only that, you come across as a stark raving lunatic, > which turns other people off your cause. And you lose karma and mess > up the signal-to-noise ratio, which gets you into people's killfiles. > Of course anybody can rant on about non-technical matters and come through email as a zealot or a close minded zombie. However, when we're discussing the advantages and disadvantages of a certain technology against another technology in a given context, it counts as technical discourse minus the machismo but plus experience. Healthy technical discourse over issues regarding technology (and in our case Linux) should count as valid discourse -- at least in my criterion. > Speaking as a geek girl (although certainly not for _all_ geek girls), > I find these my-technology-is-cooler-than-your-technology posts most > resemble (ahem) a pissing contest. Totally uncool. Now speaking as a supporter of free speech and a geek guy (not speaking for anybody else), I say let them go on and let other people say what they want. Prohibiting someone to speak his mind is one of the things the Free Software Movement (and supporters and the occupants of the Free World) should not condone. Let everybody have a voice -- and if you decide to not use yours for any particular reason you may have, then that's a choice you make. > > (Except when it comes to Emacs. Emacs is the coolest thing on earth, > sliced bread included. ;) Kidding.) And I love C++. <laugh> ;) > > Really, I don't know what it is with some people and the urge to have > a One True Way. (Reminds me of Microsoft's address: One Microsoft Way. > Really.) > > Free software isn't like that. Free software is about choice. And the "Free" in Free Software and Free Speech allows us to choose to say what we want to say, and how we want to say it. ;) Maybe this is not the appropriate list for the "pissing contests" and perhaps we can move it from here to the other mailing list. :D -- Dean Michael C. Berris <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> GPG Key: 0x08AE6EAC http://mikhailberis.blogspot.com Mobile: +63 921 7841815
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