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Linus Is A Hero 357

Posted by Hemos from the saint-linus-of-codex dept.
oever writes "The dutch broadcaster KRO has chosen 365 modern saints or heros. One of them is Linus Torvalds, chosen for his work in on Linux and 'Open Source'. Too bad RMS or Saint Ignuciuis he wasn't chosen, even though he was recommended."
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Linus Is A Hero More

Linus Is A Hero

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  • hmmm.. (Score:2, Funny)

    by sardonic2 ( 576701 )
    I think that guy is on crack... you look at the others he choose? James Taylor?? Tina Turner?? whats the world coming too...

  • Church of Linux! (Score:5, Funny)

    by caluml ( 551744 ) <slashdot@spamgoe ... minus herbivore> on Monday December 23, 2002 @05:03PM (#4946917) Homepage
    I have already said I worship in the Church of Linux.

    This is going to make those "it's not a religious" arguments a lot harder!
    • Eventhough I still like /.
    • "I have already said I worship in the Church of Linux."

      Is it true that you had to assemble your own chairs, but once you do you can take them home and use them for a variety of purposes?

      Just thought I'd ask. I'm from the Church of Windows. Our chairs come pre-assembled and are quite comfortable, but there's a very specific commandment about using the chair in a particular way.
      • Ah! So that where the phrase "Per-Seat Licensing" comes from :)
      • I'm from the Church of Windows. Our chairs come pre-assembled and are quite comfortable, but there's a very specific commandment about using the chair in a particular way.

        Then there are those passages in the Microsoft Bible that require each paritioner to lubricate his anus before attending services.

        Pretty strict with that collection plate too.

  • I'd have read it but... (Score:3, Offtopic)

    by mrseigen ( 518390 ) on Monday December 23, 2002 @05:03PM (#4946926) Homepage Journal
    ... Flash is the most horribly evil thing ever to come out of the computer industry. It chokes the flow of free information and turns pages (of information) into giant full-screen animated talking commercials.

    That rant's over for now, so I'll just have to ask for somebody to get a text list or something. :)
    • I beg to differ. Sure, Flash can be annoying but so can yellow text on a pink background. There's a time and a place for Flash; just because something has the capacity to be used for Evil(TM) doesn't mean it has no legitimate applications.
    • Flash is a tool, it is not in itself evil or good. I mean sure, flash brings us crap like well, the ads on www.weather.com.

      It also brings us www.homestarrunner.com.

      If you think I'm going to give up strongbad's e-mail in order to "unchoke the flow of free information" or to get rid of a few ads you've got another thing coming. Besides flash works on almost any device so I don't see how it chokes the flow, if it can flow anywhere.
      • > Besides flash works on almost any device.

        Does it work on text-to-speech or braille.
        Is it adjustable for colour-blindness?
        Is it indexable/searchable?
        How do I set a bookmark at a certain point in Flash?
        (I'm aware that you wrote almost)

        > It also brings us www.homestarrunner.com.

        Yes, very informative.

        So, what kind of information do you think one cannot convey through the internet by the means of text and pictures, but through Flash-media?
        • I believe the problem here is that you, like most of the Slashdot crowd, equate the Internet only with "information." You're leaving out entertainment, which Homestarrunner falls under for many of us (disregarding those inevitable people who will say something along the lines of "I don't find it entertainment" and believe that makes it so for all).
          • > I believe the problem here ...
            Well, I don't consider this as a problem :).

            But to quote from the post you were replying to:
            >>> It chokes the flow of free information and turns pages (of information) into giant full-screen animated talking commercials.
            And your reply:
            >> I don't see how it chokes the flow,

            Entertainment is a different story.
            I won't deny that Homestarrunner is entertaining and flash can generate pretty amusing pages and good looking ones.
        • Try doing maps in text only format. You'll find that flash can be a very handy tool when your information is vision based...as a hell of a lot of information is.
        • So, what kind of information do you think one cannot convey through the internet by the means of text and pictures, but through Flash-media?

          Everything important in life I learned from Jake [romp.com]. A true American hero.

          Don't let the .exe and .hqx formats fool you, it's Flash, but in self-extracting format in order to conserve bandwidth.
      • Flash is a tool, it is not in itself evil or good.

        If Flash is not evil, then how do you:

        a) Cut and paste text out of a flash page, say: a phone number? (Yes, I've been facted with that problem more than once.)

        b) Turn off the animation?
        • If Flash is not evil, then how do you:

          a) Cut and paste text out of a flash page, say: a phone number? (Yes, I've been facted with that problem more than once.)

          The same way you cut and paste out of non-evil jpgs / pngs / gifs (take your pick).

          b) Turn off the animation?

          By not downloading the plugin? Surely you won't need it of it's all evil.

    • I think you have posted your comment in the wrong story. The one about micro$oft buying macromedia is here [slashdot.org]

      Oh wait ...
    • "... Flash is the most horribly evil thing ever to come out of the computer industry. It chokes the flow of free information and turns pages (of information) into giant full-screen animated talking commercials."

      Oh geez. Talk about misappropriation of blame.

      Flash is not the problem. It's the content makers. Your beef is with them. Flash is just a tool. It is a very sophisticated tool, but like with 3D rendering, not everybody is a star with it. It's just like pop-ups. Nobody's yelling at Microsoft or Netscape because of their popup support, they're yelling at the people who abuse them.

  • Don't you have to be dead to be canonized? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Ted_Green ( 205549 ) on Monday December 23, 2002 @05:04PM (#4946930)
    If so, then does does that make this a hit list too?
  • They left out Frank Zappa!
  • I can't even read the list.
    All I get is a huge grey block in the middle of a black screen.

  • BONO?! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Raul654 ( 453029 ) on Monday December 23, 2002 @05:05PM (#4946940) Homepage
    Oh my lord... what were they think...err, drinking?
    • Yeah, haven't we seen him hang out with Billg?

    • Re:BONO?! (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anthony Boyd ( 242971 )

      Bono has actually done a HUGE amount of work to save small countries from financial collapse. He meets with government officials in the USA (and now a few other big countries too, although I can't recall which ones), and persuades them to forgive billions upon billions of dollars in debt. Because of Bono, some small counties have been able to remain in existence.

  • Bob Geldof and Bruce Springsteen.

    ...right...

    This guy is on crack.
  • Then how come they refuse to make a site that works with netscape navigator for shit?

  • Bird (Score:3, Funny)

    by WPIDalamar ( 122110 ) on Monday December 23, 2002 @05:07PM (#4946969) Homepage
    Go Linus!

    I always knew he rocked, that's why I named my cockatiel after him!

    I also named my fish after Alan Cox... but the fish died, so no wonder he didn't make the list :)
    • Go Linus! I always knew he rocked, that's why I named my cockatiel after him! I also named my fish after Alan Cox ...

      Good thing it wasn't the other way around. Even though naming your cockatiel after Alan has a certain aliteratory appeal, you don't want to be chasing after him when he runs away in the neighborhood yelling "Here, cox! Get over here, cox!! Com'ere boy!! That's a good cox!".

  • "modern" saint? (Score:5, Funny)

    by tswinzig ( 210999 ) on Monday December 23, 2002 @05:08PM (#4946976) Journal
    I can hear RMS now... "you should refer to Linus as a GNU/Hero."

  • I want the pattern to his superhero outfit released so I can see how I stack up.
  • I still think RMS should have pushed to get a cameo role in one of the LOTR films... Might need some makeup to look more believable, but you know, they can work miracles these days...
  • Bruce Springsteen, Bill Cosby, George Harrison, Wim Kok (ex Dutch PM), Pim Fortuijn (ex literally), Mothers (yes, Mothers), Steven Spielberg and Kelly van der Veer (a trans-sexual photo model) as well as 330 other Dutch semi-famous or unknown people, and half a dozen worthwhile people, such as MLK, Danny Kaye and Nelson Mandela (also Steve Biko). Oh and Oprah and Tiger, too!

  • The hero's now working for PALLADIUM (Score:3, Interesting)

    by glMatrixMode ( 631669 ) on Monday December 23, 2002 @05:19PM (#4947087)
    > Linus Is A Hero

    And today, the hero is working for one of the companies behind Palladium :
    http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=6487 [theinquirer.net]

    I posted this on the 'linuxnewbie' forums some time ago, but it curiously disappeared. I've received no mail from the moderators and I've really verified that my message had really been posted. My interpretation is that some linuxnewbie moderator was a Linus fan.
  • I'd much rather see "This year's best people" on the cover of Time or People magazine instead of "This year's most scantly-clad." (a la Jennifer Lopez)

    Looking through the pictures on that website, these look like people I would actually like to meet (save the black guy with sunglasses and purple hair) as opposed to the plastic celebrities we're constantly bombarded with by the media in the States.
  • Because looking at the other entries makes me feel the list is not even moderated and doesn't even "comply" with the morals of the Catholic Broadcast Organisation (KRO, but translated). There's one picture of a Turkisch woman ("Nilgün Yerli") with a subscript of "Turkse Troel", which could be considered quite derogatory (near the meaning of "Slut"). Others on the list also don't come close to the "pureness" of a saint, at least not from what I can tell.

    And let's face it, people like Linus as a representative and leader of the kernel development, but I suspect nobody on the kernel mailinglist will call Linus a saint ;-)

    (Sorry to burst your bubble...)

    Simon

  • Linus (Score:4, Funny)

    by archeopterix ( 594938 ) on Monday December 23, 2002 @05:26PM (#4947157) Journal

    A hero.

    Superpowers:

    Kernel strike - takes 10 turns, produces a kernel that combined with a set of GNU tools decreases enemy share on the server market.
    E-mail - takes 0 turns, gives additional activity to every geek character on LKML. This multiplies by 100 if re-posted on Slashdot.
    Flying - well, not yet.
  • I wasn't able to read the list (big nasty flash ad + 28.8 connection = $#@%%^#$@) but is either Bill Gates or the creator of AOL on that list?

    I know this will probably activate the froth glands of you zealots, but please read this whole post first. I don't know who compiled this list, but I suspect that if those people were left off, it was done so deliberately, despite their obvious contributions to the development of the internet.

    As unpopular as they and their creations are to a lot of people here, I think it's unfair to ignore how they were able to bring the internet to millions of users who, without Windows and/or AOL, would have never been able to do so.

    • As unpopular as they and their creations are to a lot of people here, I think it's unfair to ignore how they were able to bring the internet to millions of users who, without Windows and/or AOL, would have never been able to do so.

      Apple+Prodigy, or Apple+CompuServe, would have done it. AOL's real genius (whether they were Steve Case's ideas, or more likely those of his staff) was making the Internet connection in AOL work more simply than in the other online services, and in coming out with the unlimited connection plan when he did (despite the horrible user experience that led to for the first year or so after the change). Microsoft's real genius wrt the Internet (whether they were Bill Gates's ideas, or more likely those of his staff) was in recognizing the threat that Netscape posed to the Microsoft model and quickly leveraging free code into a "dumped" product (IE 2; don't talk to me about IE 1) that usurped Netscape's place and either per accidens or purposefully (the latter would be more complimentary to Microsoft) integrated the user's experience of the Web and the 'Net with the user's experience of the operating system.

      In some ways, what MS is talking about now is what Sun was talking about 5 years ago. Moving the real work onto the network and off the desktop.

    • "As unpopular as they and their creations are to a lot of people here, I think it's unfair to ignore how they were able to bring the internet to millions of users who, without Windows and/or AOL, would have never been able to do so."

      I'm still not sure that letting millions of ignorant users on was a good idea in the first place. How many times does one have to get AIMs or ICQs of "ASL" or "Come see me and my friends naked XXX" before it becomes obvious that the glorious internet, that sacred educational frontier, has become nothing more than a cesspool where if you know where to go, you can actually find real information? Let's face it, easy access is good, idiot access isn't necessarily good.

  • 3 of the 4 Beatles (Score:4, Funny)

    by delcielo ( 217760 ) on Monday December 23, 2002 @05:29PM (#4947192) Journal
    Ringo got shafted again.

    He isn't as visible as the others; but he's done a lot of post-Beatles work for charity.

    Cheers, Ringo.
  • No wonder RMS wasn't chosen. He'd require a plugin to view his details. Can anyone post a non-flash translation?

  • Quick Translation (Score:4, Funny)

    by selderrr ( 523988 ) on Monday December 23, 2002 @05:46PM (#4947309) Journal
    (I'm dutch, not english, so forgive spalling errors. CmdrTaco is now verifying syntax & vocaulary :-)


    The free Linux-software developed itself the past few years as a solid comptetitor against Windows. The Fin Linus Torvalds is the hero of the 'open source'- movement.
    The Finse student Linus Torvalds wrote in 1991 a first version of Linux. Torvalds asked a few friend-programmers to have a look at and comment on his creation. Thuswas born a cooperation that still today leads tp continuous improvement of the operating system.
    Meanwhile, there is a core of at least 1000 internetusers continuously polishing linux.
    besides this core, there are many one-time contributions. Thru nightly chat-sessions the discussion about possible additions and improvements of this common good are worked out.
    initially, linux turned out to be an OS for fanatic hobbyists, usualy working in academic situations. At the end of the 90s, linux started rising in computer centers of lartge companies. System administrators download linux for free from the Net and use it 'en masse' as webserver, often without IT managers knowledge.
    If problems come to light, they get notified in newsgroups all over the net, whereafter tenthousands of programmers are volunteering to help finding a solution.
    The advantages of linux are numerous according to open-source fans. Mostly because it is free : in contrast with other software, no licences have to be paid, but rather it is freely downloadable.


    Then they go on an nag about linus being gay, having a goatse affair with CmdrTaco in russia in a base that belongs to someone who has bad grammar (like me). Or something.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • GNU/Linus or GNU/Torvalds? After all, wasn't it RMS who donated all the semen to the FSF (Free Sperm Foundation)? I think we all have a lot to be thankful for in GNU.

  • Let me get this straight: George, John and even Paul are heroes/saints but Ringo is chopped liver? I realize that the others did more noble things post-Beatles, but come on. Ringo did "Caveman", with Barbara Bach, Dennis Quaid AND Shelly Long.

  • Hrm, (Score:3, Informative)

    by Dark Lord Seth ( 584963 ) on Monday December 23, 2002 @06:04PM (#4947488) Journal

    Sure, I respect Linus for his work and contributions to the IT world and the "liberation" from propertairy software and unethical licenses. However, the REAL heroes on that page are two victims of "zinloos geweld" as we dutch people call it, or "senseless violence" if translated into english. These two people I'm talking about are René Steegmans and Meindert Tjoelker (both on the same page as Linus) who were killed for no reason at all. Maybe not such a big thing in the US, but remember that the Netherlands is about 1/232th the size of the US. (according to the CIA factbook, ahem) Meindert Tjoelker was killed when trying to calm a fight between a few people and René Steegmans was killed when he questioned a bunch of guys wether they had any respect for an old lady who they almost ran over on scooters. They are real heroes to us Dutchies.

  • I'm shocked that I don't see Ellen Feiss or Natalie Portman on the list.
  • Why focus on Linus in this story? Tim Berners-Lee is deservedly in the same list. If Linus is a Saint, Tim must be the Pope.

  • A zombie!!! A zombie!!! (Score:3, Funny)

    by NineNine ( 235196 ) on Monday December 23, 2002 @08:04PM (#4948406)
    Did anybody else notice that one of their "heroes" is a ZOMBIE!!! [www.kro.nl]?? It looks like one of the zombies from the "Living Dead" series. I expect him to say "Braaaaiiiinnnns" (in Dutch, of course).
  • There is only one Saint Linus and he was created by Charles Schultz.

    Thou shalt not have other Saint Linus before the one true Saint Linus.

  • "Too bad RMS or Saint Ignuciuis he wasn't chosen, even though he was recommended.""

    Of course he wasn't! He's no lowly saint, he's nothing less than the Second Coming! He'll tell you himself!

    Oh, wait... GNU/Second Coming.
  • gnu/hero?

    --Joey
  • Did we really want to have a picture of Saint Iggy linked to from the front page? I want to burn myself alive now.
  • Seriously, who has heard of KRO before? Exactly. I'm putting out a list of the top 300 coolest dudes on earth - make sure you submit it, I'll include Linus.
  • Linus is a role model, not a hero.

    I seem to remember being instructed as to what a hero is in basic training. But I never understood it, not really.

    Not until I met one. Two holes in his chest and fighting for his own life at that point. But he saved two lives prior. That is a hero.

    A hero is the man who runs into a blazing fire in order to save your sorry ass.

    A hero is the lady who jumps into an ice cold river to save your child.

    A role model is someone who writes a free Unix like kernel and gives it to the world for free.

    I want to be like Linus some day. I hope I never have to be a hero.

  • ...but if it were me, I'd be embarresed to be listed up there with Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandi, Anne Frank, The New York Firefighters, Steve Biko, Nelson Mandela, Albert Einstein, etc. Father of the Free OS or no, I'd feel unworthy to lick their boots.

    Then again, there's Bono & David Bowie, so perhaps it isn't as bad as all that. :-)
  • There are a lot of Dutch folk on there I've never heard of. If it were made by Americans, I'm sure there'd be a lot more Americans on it that few outside of this country have heard of. But, given that its a list made by Dutch people, I'm really impressed at the number of Americans on it. Particularly popular culture figures that you'd figure wouldn't translate overseas well, like Michael Jordan and Bill Cosby.

    I think they chose some Americans we wouldn't have chosen. Cosby is one example. He's an OK comedian, and I loved Fat Albert back in the day and all, but still not exactly a heroic figure in my book. More interestingly, they picked FDR and did not mention Churchill. If Americans made the list, I suspect the reverse would have been true. (Even back during WWII, it was remarked that the US and Britan could switch leaders, and both would be happier).
  • Good, I'll update my religion on the next census from "Jedi" to "Linux". Glad they got that formalized.

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