Every community has its heroes, and here in the world of Linux there's no doubt that Linus Torvalds is one of them. Linus featured more prominently than usual in the Linux blogosphere over the past week, in fact, and not just because he released version 2.6.32 of the Linux kernel.
"Do you want hemlock, or will a cyanide capsule do?" That was Slashdot blogger Barbara Hudson's response to a question being debated in the Linux blogosphere in recent days. Specifically, is Apple or Microsoft worse for FOSS? Cupertino was the choice of Alastair Otter, the blogger who originally raised the question.
Should computers be intuitive, requiring little to no learning or thinking? For that matter, is it even possible for them to be so? "Nothing is intuitive," said Slashdot blogger Gerhard Mack told LinuxInsider. "Think about it: We have to be taught to use a toilet, how to use a fork and how to drive.
Here in the Linux blogosphere, things have been remarkably calm, cool and collected of late. Much, in fact, like the Father of Linux himself, one might say. It should come as no great surprise, then, that the very same man -- Linus Torvalds -- was the subject of some considerable -- albeit well-mannered -- debate.
For many blogs, getting picked up on Slashdot is a dream come true. For startup Ksplice, it seems to be a matter of course. Yes, the company's blog had a total of *three* posts as of Wednesday, and two of them had already hit the big time on Slashdot in short order.
Richard Stallman's now-famous warnings about cloud computing (his verdict in a nutshell: It's "marketing hype") sparked a fresh round of debate in the blogosphere this week, along with some outbursts of incredulity. Stallman "is a few bubbles off of plumb and gets weirder every year," Slashdot blogger hairyfeet told LinuxInsider.
"Never get between a geek and a processor" would be an excellent maxim for tech companies to live by, but it's one that gets ignored again and again. Take Sony's
latest misguided move.
Software patents are a frequently debated topic here in the Linux blogosphere, but nary a conversation has taken place about them in recent years without at least some hopeful mention of Bilski. Many, in fact, have looked to the longstanding case to finally put to rest the legal threats and patent quibbling that has beset the field.
You know it's a good day when included among all the dry-as-dust press releases that arrive on your virtual desk is one that promises to combine Linux, Twitter and "dangerously outrageous" fun.
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