You know, why does Microsoft even bother to spend money to thwart Linux
when it's top supporters act like such buffoons anyway...?!

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759...0.asp#talkback

New OSI President Steps Down
By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
March 4, 2005


The OSI (Open Source Initiative) is the body that approves open-source
licenses. Nelson, a founding member of the nonprofit group and president
of Crynwr Software, a high-end e-mail system design company based on
open-source software, was named president on Feb. 1.

He took the place of Eric Raymond, a co-founder of the OSI, who had been
president since the organization's founding.

In his Weblog, Nelson said, "I'm resigning from the presidency of the
Open Source Initiative, effective last Wednesday (2/23). I have waited
to make this announcement because it is not easy to admit inadequacy
publicly."

"I have no trouble telling people that I am a poor swimmer, but that is
of no matter to me since I don't care about swimming. I care very much
that OSI have a good president. I don't like politics, and it's become
evident in recent weeks that OSI's role has rapidly become much more
political," Nelson wrote.

"I am not ready for the position of president; certainly not by training
and perhaps not even by temperament. The entire board is unanimous in
agreeing that we need a president with more political savvy than I," he
continued.

in poked his little head through the XP firewall and said:

> You know, why does Microsoft even bother to spend money to thwart Linux
> when it's top supporters act like such buffoons anyway...?!

How does buffoonery correlate with operating-system preference?

How does one individual's nuttiness disparage an operating system?

And why do you post this to linux and microsoft venues simultaneously?

in or out?

Linønut wrote:
> in poked his little head through the XP firewall and said:
>
>
>>You know, why does Microsoft even bother to spend money to thwart Linux
>>when it's top supporters act like such buffoons anyway...?!
>
>
> How does buffoonery correlate with operating-system preference?

We engineering types make decisions on technical merit.

But general society looks at the quality and opinions of the person.

The idea that OSI should appoint a person as /President/ who is at
worst, holding racist opinions, and at best, immature enough to post
such nonsense...well, what can I say ?

>
> How does one individual's nuttiness disparage an operating system?

We humans behave by example...we follow people we respect, we walk away
from people we don't...

>
> And why do you post this to linux and microsoft venues simultaneously?

I want this issue exposed in public.

>
> in or out?

I really, really want to be in...but not if the highest levels of OSS
and the Linux hierarchy allow a racist to be in charge.

No sir, count me out if that is the case...

begin Error log for Tue, 08 Mar 2005 15:52:24 -0800 - in caused a page
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> In his Weblog, Nelson said, "I'm resigning from the presidency of the
> Open Source Initiative, effective last Wednesday (2/23). I have waited
> to make this announcement because it is not easy to admit inadequacy
> publicly."

As usual with prejudiced persons, Nelson's heart was in the right place,
but he really put his leg into his intestines when attempting to express
himself.

Everyone is prejudiced, this is just human nature. It's the way things
are, sort of a method of balance. The human mind tends to
generalize in order to get a grasp on things that it doesn't
have enough information to categorize properly. So, in this aspect,
everyone is prejudiced to some extent, unavoidably so. This is forgivable.

What is not forgivable is people who continue to foster prejudiced
opinions and outlooks even when they have enough information to the
contrary.

I don't believe that Nelson is of the latter category, but I do definitely
believe he falls smack into the former in that he obviously does not have
enough exposure and interaction with black persons to be able to speak
from any valid experience or knowledge. His error was he should have just
kept his mouth shut in this context.

In lieu of this, his resignation is probably in everyone's best interest.
Not so much because of what he said, but the fact that he even said it at
all.

And all of these people with their cries of "racism" should just shut up.
Nothing he stated was in the least "racist". It was very prejudicial
though, from ignorance rather than malice.

--
rapskat - 19:29:47 up 16:39, 3 users, load average: 0.40, 0.76, 0.60
Don't worry so loud, your roommate can't think.
I am jamming to Sketch & Code - Reality

Check out his post on Historical Mathematics at
http://angry-economist.russnelson.com/.

Sure, I want a guy working on an operating system who thinks that 2 + 1
might not equal 3 at some point in the future. I can just imagine his code:
ASSERT((2 + 1) == 3, "Fundamental laws of nature have changed! Recheck
this!");

His allegedly racist comments do appear to have been whipped up a bit in the
media, but it's a bit difficult to check since his site has clearly edited
the original text.

"Linønut" <"=?iso-8859-1?Q?lin=F8nut?="@bone.com> wrote in message
news:cPCdnZqLsa-wo7PfRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
> in poked his little head through the XP firewall and said:
>
>> You know, why does Microsoft even bother to spend money to thwart Linux
>> when it's top supporters act like such buffoons anyway...?!
>
> How does buffoonery correlate with operating-system preference?
>
> How does one individual's nuttiness disparage an operating system?
>
> And why do you post this to linux and microsoft venues simultaneously?
>
> in or out?

Sean Hederman wrote:

> His allegedly racist comments do appear to have been whipped up a bit in

They weren't /alledgely/ racist.

They were *racist*.

Any comment applied to a group of people based on what is commonly known
as /race/, and which usually means skin color, is *racist*.

He specifically commented about *blacks*.

If I say *blacks* are smart, it's racist...

If I say *asians* eat rice, it's racist...

Any time, that I try to apply a /group/ label to an individual, it's racist.


--
Texeme
http://texeme.com

in poked his little head through the XP firewall and said:

>> How does buffoonery correlate with operating-system preference?
>
> We engineering types make decisions on technical merit.
>
> But general society looks at the quality and opinions of the person.
>
> The idea that OSI should appoint a person as /President/ who is at
> worst, holding racist opinions, and at best, immature enough to post
> such nonsense...well, what can I say ?

You can tell the truth, my friend. That he was not hired with knowledge
of the blog that is at issue. That the blog itself mainly makes the mistake
of referring, however obliquely, to an old and vilified stereotype. That he
resigned when people discovered the blog and called him on it. And that he
has at least one defender, Eric S. Raymond.

>> How does one individual's nuttiness disparage an operating system?
>
> We humans behave by example...we follow people we respect, we walk away
> from people we don't...

So one bad apple spoils the whole bunch, eh?

>> And why do you post this to linux and microsoft venues simultaneously?
>
> I want this issue exposed in public.

How... noble.

>> in or out?
>
> I really, really want to be in...but not if the highest levels of OSS
> and the Linux hierarchy allow a racist to be in charge.

They don't. Didn't you actually *read* the article?

> No sir, count me out if that is the case...

It is not the case. And probably never was.

--
When was the last time you thought about
Microsoft, except in frustration or anger?
-- Michael S. Malone, Silicon Insider

rapskat said:

> As usual with prejudiced persons, Nelson's heart
> was in the right place, but he really put his leg into
> his intestines when attempting to express himself.

<snip>

> And all of these people with their cries of "racism"
> should just shut up. Nothing he stated was in the
> east "racist". It was very prejudicial though,
> from ignorance rather than malice.

WelI thought out a clearly put. concur fully...


`You know, why does Microsoft even bother to spend money to thwart
Linux
when it's top supporters act like such buffoons anyway...?! ' - in

Like how ? The man admitted he wasn't cut out for the role. How one
mans unfortunate turn of phrase represents the whole of `Linux' is
beyond me. I can't comment on what he actually said as the blog entry
has been removed.

I can categorically state that I do not share his views. But allow me
to enlighten you for a moment. COLA is not a philosophical society nor
a religious movement. It brings to gather people with a mutual interest
in Linux. There are committed Christians here. Also committed atheists
and members of the NRA. That in no way shape or form means that all of
us must subscribe to these beliefs. Indeed one can be a member of COLA
and at least two of the above organisations - at the same time !!!

`I want this issue exposed in public.' - in

No, you just want to embarrass us all. I had not been aware of the
`issue' until you brought it up. As I said above I, for one, do not
associate with such views.

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<(E-Mail Removed)>, details as
follows .vbs

> rapskat said:
>
>> As usual with prejudiced persons, Nelson's heart
>> was in the right place, but he really put his leg into
>> his intestines when attempting to express himself.
>
> <snip>
>
>> And all of these people with their cries of "racism"
>> should just shut up. Nothing he stated was in the
>> east "racist". It was very prejudicial though,
>> from ignorance rather than malice.
>
> WelI thought out a clearly put. concur fully...
>
>
> `You know, why does Microsoft even bother to spend money to thwart
> Linux
> when it's top supporters act like such buffoons anyway...?! ' - in
>
> Like how ? The man admitted he wasn't cut out for the role. How one
> mans unfortunate turn of phrase represents the whole of `Linux' is
> beyond me. I can't comment on what he actually said as the blog entry
> has been removed.
>
> I can categorically state that I do not share his views. But allow me
> to enlighten you for a moment. COLA is not a philosophical society nor
> a religious movement. It brings to gather people with a mutual interest
> in Linux. There are committed Christians here. Also committed atheists
> and members of the NRA. That in no way shape or form means that all of
> us must subscribe to these beliefs. Indeed one can be a member of COLA
> and at least two of the above organisations - at the same time !!!
>
> `I want this issue exposed in public.' - in
>
> No, you just want to embarrass us all. I had not been aware of the
> `issue' until you brought it up. As I said above I, for one, do not
> associate with such views.

Exactly. I don't see why these stereotypes are attempted to be put on
all users of Linux just because someone who uses Linux may say or do
something that one doesn't agree with.

It's really ridiculous if you think about it. I mean, if a pro-lifer goes
out and shoots a doctor, does that automatically make all pro-lifers a
bunch of gun-toting homicidal maniacs? Of course not.

I am an individual as is everyone else. That I may share certain
interests, opinions and preferences with other persons is only natural.
However, the association should stop beyond that common denominator.
Anything that I do or say is my own responsibility as an individual and in
no way is representative of other persons who may share my interests.

Even worse are the prejudices based on racial differences. With other
things, you can choose, but noone has the choice of their race, sex or
ethnicity. So to attribute a quality to a group of persons based solely
on these is especially wrong.

This world will be such a better place if and when people as a whole
evolve enough to realize that. Of course, it's not going to happen
anytime in the near (or distant) future. I am certainly guilty of it
myself, though I do make efforts to avoid such mindsets.

</me puts away soap box> :-)

--
rapskat - 04:58:16 up 11:11, 7 users, load average: 0.48, 0.49, 0.73
You will forget that you ever knew me.

rapskat poked his little head through the XP firewall and said:

> Even worse are the prejudices based on racial differences. With other
> things, you can choose, but noone has the choice of their race, sex or
> ethnicity. So to attribute a quality to a group of persons based solely
> on these is especially wrong.

We should not forget about those people who may experience bias because they
are forced to use Microsoft operating systems and tools because they do not
know about alternatives.

(Sorry about that one)

--
When was the last time you thought about
Microsoft, except in frustration or anger?
-- Michael S. Malone, Silicon Insider