Weird stuff from Alexis de Tocqueville Institution
In one of the few extensive and critical studies on the source of open source code, Kenneth Brown, president of AdTI, traces the free software movement over three decades -- from its romantic but questionable beginnings, through its evolution to a commercial effort that draws on unpaid contributions from thousands of programmers. Among other points, the study directly challenges Linus Torvalds' claim to be the inventor of Linux." They promise excerpts from the book on May 20.
Posted May 17, 2004 13:01 UTC (Mon)
by copsewood (subscriber, #199)
[Link]
Posted May 17, 2004 13:04 UTC (Mon)
by maney (subscriber, #12630)
[Link]
Among other points, the study directly challenges Linus Torvalds' claim to be the inventor of Linux.
Brown suggests the invention of Unix is an integral part of the Linux story.
For almost thirty years, programmers have tried to build a Unix-like system and couldn't.
Posted May 17, 2004 13:23 UTC (Mon)
by dcoutts (subscriber, #5387)
[Link]
Then we just trace each version and note that it improves *gradually* over the years into a kernel that is certianly comparable in scope and quality of today's comercial unix flavours. Linux is obviously inspired by unix. Some complain that Linux is 'terribly derivitave' (mainly when promoting the HURD) but that is meant in a derivitive ideas sense, not in the copyright sense. Perhaps this is all that AdTI is alleging? :-)
Posted May 17, 2004 13:45 UTC (Mon)
by dwheeler (guest, #1216)
[Link] (2 responses)
Posted May 17, 2004 13:55 UTC (Mon)
by nathan (subscriber, #3559)
[Link] (1 responses)
I trust Alexis doh! Tocqueville will be telling security agencies that they should use neither English nor the roman alphabet, as both are widely distributed.
Posted May 17, 2004 15:41 UTC (Mon)
by jre (guest, #2807)
[Link]
Posted May 17, 2004 14:30 UTC (Mon)
by huysmans (guest, #14315)
[Link] (1 responses)
Perhaps they think it's Alexis de Tocqueville...
Posted May 17, 2004 15:03 UTC (Mon)
by eru (subscriber, #2753)
[Link]
The real de Tocqueville is probably spinning in his grave, on hearing about that garbage written in his name....
Posted May 17, 2004 17:29 UTC (Mon)
by hans (guest, #148)
[Link] (3 responses)
Brown's account is based on extensive interviews with more than two
dozen leading technologists in the United States, Europe, and Australia,
including Richard Stallman, Dennis Ritchie, and Andrew Tanenbaum.
This begs the question: Did they interview Linus? This press release
has the flavor of an historical scandal, but it's not as if Linus has been
dead for two hundred years or something. Couldn't they have just
asked him if they thought something was fishy about Linux's origin?
Posted May 17, 2004 17:58 UTC (Mon)
by AnswerGuy (guest, #1256)
[Link]
However the issue is moot. Linus wrote the original code. Many contributed to it over the years (perhaps a couple thousand). Some among them may have contributed code of dubious provenance and some small amount of that may have managed to leak into Linux. This missive from de Toqueville is unconcerned with significance or truth --- it seems to be simple sensationalism. JimD
Posted May 17, 2004 19:17 UTC (Mon)
by JoeBuck (subscriber, #2330)
[Link]
Given the people he mentions, he will no doubt quote lots of people as saying that Linux is just a clone of Unix. Certainly Ritchie or Stallman would say that, and Linus wouldn't argue much. The point is, though, that Posix is a standard, and making a free implementation of it is completely legitimate.
Posted May 21, 2004 17:30 UTC (Fri)
by jmshh (guest, #8257)
[Link]
At least Andrew Tanenbaum
has something to say about the interview, and it explains some of the
weirdness.
Posted May 18, 2004 6:49 UTC (Tue)
by sitaram (guest, #5959)
[Link] (1 responses)
Site Temporarily Disabled This site has been temporarily disabled. If you are the owner of the site, please contact customer care.
Posted May 18, 2004 12:38 UTC (Tue)
by 87C751 (guest, #11362)
[Link]
Posted May 18, 2004 7:17 UTC (Tue)
by hingo (guest, #14792)
[Link]
Posted May 21, 2004 6:27 UTC (Fri)
by a_hippie (guest, #34)
[Link]
Just goes to show that conspiracy theory is alive and well and funded by giant corporations.
Weird stuff from Alexis de Tocqueville Institution
Weird with a beard! Do you suppose they're being sponsored by scoundrels this time? If so, they seem to be about a year late in coming to the party...
Weird stuff from Alexis de Tocqueville Institution
Do I hear the sound of someone who has just discovered Minix and doesn't have one iota of understanding about how Linus was revolting against its design, not copying it? Maybe.
News flash! The invention of writing is an integral part of the Brown story. You read it here first!
Oops, guess it wasn't Minix after all. Just the same old trash about how the API, as openly published time and again over the years, is still a trade secret. I was so hoping they had a new flavor of Kool-Aid, but no.
This seems fairly easy to sort out, just pull out a copy of linux 0.0.1. Linus himself notes that it is the work of a young programmer, is full of poor coding practice and certianly not comparable in scope or quality to version of unix of the same period.Weird stuff from Alexis de Tocqueville Institution
LWN has previously
done a story on the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution.
See previous LWN material on the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution
The 'true scotsman' argument os over here -> http://www.infidels.org/news/atheism/logic.html#scots,See previous LWN material on the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution
So -- you're implying that true patriots never put sugar on their porridge?
See previous LWN material on the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution
A careful reading reveals otherwise:
True patriots will
come to grips with the reality that really bad people want more information
about our nation's computer systems; and giving bad people indiscreetly any
information about our systems is reckless.
Clearly, Mr. Brown has allowed (or at least not ruled out) that I can still be be a true patriot if I have come to grips with the aforementioned reality about really bad people and giving them indiscreetly any information about our systems, but have not yet come to grips with a reality also involving bad people and information, but in which that information is given to the bad people discreetly!
LWN doesn't do polls, does it? Too bad, we could have one about who is the secret originator of linux ;) Let's have a poll
Perhaps they think it's Alexis de Tocqueville...
Let's have a poll
Weird stuff from Alexis de Tocqueville Institution
If one is going to impugn the honesty of someone why would one bother to ask them directly? Once you've called someone's integrity and honesty to question then you have no reason to trust their answers to any questions you pose.Asking Linus
Weird stuff from Alexis de Tocqueville Institution
Weird stuff from Alexis de Tocqueville Institution
did they get slashdotted or something? www.adti.net is down, and any URL in the domain shows this:Weird stuff from Alexis de Tocqueville Institution
It works for me, but I think Linus had a point. Every story on that front page looks like a bad Onion ripoff.Weird stuff from Alexis de Tocqueville Institution
LinuxWorld Exclusive: Linus Torvalds Makes Startling Admission, Discloses *Real* Fathers of Linux
Linus confesses it's true
Guess I need to be a paid member of adti if I wanted to read that link. Weird stuff from Alexis de Tocqueville Institution
If you click on it now, you have to play "guess the password" . . Wasn't
like it was important or whatever. . . :)
Wishing you well.