Linux Format forums

[Rhakios]

The latest issue arrived today and, as usual, I had a quick glance through it and read Graham's editorial at the front. Here he tells us how he felt compelled to thank Linus for making computers relevant to him again, after being obliged to suffer an early encounter with Windows and Dos.
I wonder, does anyone ever feel equally compelled to thank RMS when they meet him? It seems to me that the Linux kernel without GNU and the GPL would not have given Graham, or indeed any of us, the operating system and software environment we all love to tinker with, praise and complain about.
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Bye, Rhakios

[johnhudson]

Not equally because, having met RMS personally, I didn't find his approach as compelling.

We owe a lot to a lot of people of whom RMS is one and I would like to thank them all but I suspect that some of the most impotant contibutors may never be widely known

[Nuke]

I do not think that people like RMS or Linus need, or even appreciate, thanking. They are basially geeks.

People like actors and mainstream politicians have a psychological make up that requires thanking every day, or several times a day - that is partly why they choose a job wherein they get frequent applause. OTOH a geek can work for years with no thanks (or even receive abuse) and it does not worry them - in fact getting thanked disturbs them.

That does not mean that we cannot recognise or discuss who is or was responsible for this or that technical advance.
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Unsolved Mysteries of the Universe No 8 :-
Why did they do away with sinks with integral splashbacks?

[graham]

That 'thanks Linus' moment was a little awkward, because, I think you're right right, Nuke; I'm not sure whether he cared about it or not. He certainly emphasised that he never started the project for other people, or for the acclaim it might bring.

But that's the kind of person I am. It had been a difficult morning and the build-up to the arrangements were awkward. It wasn't pre-meditated or anything like that. I simply wanted to say 'thanks' for the reasons outlined in the Welcome page.

I've not met RMS (Mike has got some good stories to tell about his experience), but under similar circumstances, I don't see why I wouldn't feel compelled to say the same thing.

But that's starting to make me sound like a compulsive 'geek thanker'

[Marrea]

I’m probably going to get pilloried something rotten for saying this, but I was disappointed to come across some rather questionable language in the interview. Not what I would expect from a quality publication like LXF. I’m surprised the editor let it pass.

[M-Saunders]

[Rhakios]