Gould: Oracle to Red Hat: It's Not Your Father's Linux Market Anymore

> martinfick feels I went too far in calling a previous poster an idiot ("you have elevated the name calling to a level which is way beyond what most of us expect here"). Well Martin, let's review a few of the words some of your fellow LWN commenters have sent in my direction: "rubbish" (ewan), "ridiculous" (Xman), "paid corporate propagandist"; (salvarsan), "of anthropological interest only" (ewan), "abhorrent" (jspaleta), "shitty writer" (drag). Kind of sets the tone, don't you think?

No, sorry, but none of those selected responses set the tone that your reply did, not even close. I think I can count more derogatory characterizations (to anyone and everyone) in this single response from you, than from all the other people in this thread put together (so far): "charming critters", "batty", "back away and make the sign of the cross", "muttering strange incantations", "superstition", "magical thinking.", "open source illuminati", "Apple fanboys", "Google kids", "Microsofties", "IBMers", "holier-than-thou hauteur", "ADHD", "money masters", "fanboys"
Do you think that this makes you a better writer whipping out these zingers and distracting us from any good points you may have?

> My feelings aren't hurt, yours shouldn't be either.

Our feelings aren't hurt either, we are just in awe of how low you will stoop.

> What rankles is really just that one word "proprietary", which drives some of you batty. You think it is evil, even diabolical, something that robs you of your soul or your sense of self, so you back away and make the sign of the cross (or whip out your dictionary - haha, as if that would prove anything) while muttering strange incantations. I say simply that you have fallen into a form of superstition, or magical thinking.

So, let me get this straight. Those of us who attempt to demystify communication (not trying to prove anything) and words by using their normal meaning are appealing to superstition? While you, who defines your own term for a word, all while shifting this meaning again with every response, will ridicule others of "muttering strange incantations". Do you not see the "propagandist" approach to that? Really, as a writer the best you can do is respond by elevating the insult level and using double speak?

If there were any valuable points in your article, I am sure that you have obfuscated them well enough by now with the rest of your inflammatory and half thought out responses, they are unlikely to ever be found or count in your favor. I think you would do well to contain your damage.

P.S. Your special quotes and other characters do not seem to quote well within LWN comments (not your fault), it would be helpful if you could use simply ascii in your responses to help deal with this problem.