Linus Torvalds takes time off to learn empathy

[tomashleyjr]

I found this interesting:

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/bjaz4m/torvalds-apologizes-for-being-a-jerk-about-linux-development

Tom Ashley

[Jeremy Sands]

There was, as far as I can tell, zero discussion on LKML about this.   Even more telling are the people whom I know are turning down interviews about this like GKH.   People who I know at the Linux Foundation have had bad things to say about the political headwinds for awhile now.  I know the Linux Foundation back channeled to SELF to ask about our Code of Conduct quietly.   They haven't been back as a sponsor since.

[South Park]  Remember when ESR wrote about the incoming politics into open source and he was mocked in some circles?  I 'member! [/South Park]

http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=6918

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[Jeremy Sands]

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/9go8cp/linus_torvalds_daughter_has_signed_the/

[Arnold Silvernail]

Another view of Linus Torvalds taking time off:

https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/linux-beginning-of-the-end.html

On Tue, Sep 18, 2018 at 10:02 AM, Jim Salter <jim.sal...@gmail.com> wrote:

That reddit thread is a giant dumpster fire full of toxic malcontents.

There's literally nothing negative about Torvalds' post. He realized that being unnecessarily abrasive wasn't doing either the Linux kernel development process or his own personal relationships any good, and he's taking the time to reflect on it and figure out a better way forward. It's a good thing, full stop.

On Tuesday, September 18, 2018 at 4:29:25 AM UTC-4, cto wrote:

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/9go8cp/linus_torvalds_daughter_has_signed_the/

[Jay Little]

I really like that perspective. Thanks for sharing. As somebody who has both been accused and guilty of being too harsh with colleagues, that opinion threads the needle in a way that makes perfect sense to me. The key takeaway is that it's okay to attack ideas, and that it's less okay to attack people. However it can be easy to confuse the two especially when you are the attacker.

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[Glen Peterson]

Nail33's article link made it seem like there's a choice between Windows and Linux, to which I have to ask, what about Minix?  It's now BSD Licensed.  It's baked onto every Intel chip, possibly making it one of the most popular operating systems.

http://www.minix3.org/

When I asked Mike Greata why we didn't all use Minix (he's been very excited about it) he imagined it was because of performance issues.  If it's used inside some of the fastest chips in the world, I'd say they've got those issues ironed out (Spectre and Meltdown notwithstanding).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MINIX_3

Re: Linus's vision quest, I think sometimes things need to get worse before they get better.  I admire him for wanting to be a better person, but I hope he doesn't have to take too much time away from Kernel development to make that happen.  I also think Linux has done pretty well despite his sometimes vicious words.

From a diversity standpoint, in one of those articles, I think they said that Linux had 10% participation by women.  After some other community lead wore a T-shirt with a female-coding slogan, they achieved maybe 3%.  So, it looks to me like the meritocracy is winning from a diversity standpoint over the T-shirt diversity technique.  Meritocracy is the solution, not the problem.

I think Linux will rise up stronger when this blows over.  However, if Linux goes to hell in a handbasket, we may all be learning to love minix.  Has anyone used it yet?  What's your experience?

On Sunday, September 23, 2018 at 10:15:51 AM UTC-4, Jay Little wrote:

I really like that perspective. Thanks for sharing. As somebody who has both been accused and guilty of being too harsh with colleagues, that opinion threads the needle in a way that makes perfect sense to me. The key takeaway is that it's okay to attack ideas, and that it's less okay to attack people. However it can be easy to confuse the two especially when you are the attacker.

September 23, 2018 8:17 AM, "Arnold Silvernail" <nai...@gmail.com> wrote:

Another view of Linus Torvalds taking time off:

https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/linux-beginning-of-the-end.html

On Tue, Sep 18, 2018 at 10:02 AM, Jim Salter <jim.sal...@gmail.com> wrote:

That reddit thread is a giant dumpster fire full of toxic malcontents.

There's literally nothing negative about Torvalds' post. He realized that being unnecessarily abrasive wasn't doing either the Linux kernel development process or his own personal relationships any good, and he's taking the time to reflect on it and figure out a better way forward. It's a good thing, full stop.

On Tuesday, September 18, 2018 at 4:29:25 AM UTC-4, cto wrote:

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/9go8cp/linus_torvalds_daughter_has_signed_the/

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[Jim Salter]

Minix is... miniature. It's unlikely to replace the Linux kernel, for much the same reason FreeDOS doesn't replace Windows. It's quite fast within its scope, but it doesn't do anywhere near all the things, or scale upward anywhere near as far as it would need to.

Honestly, if that tabloid-esque doiemedo article Nail posted was actually correct in all its pearl-clutching and oh-my-stars-and-garters Linux died, there would be some annoyance and a few fits and starts, and in relatively short order, the whole world would then be running on *BSD. The major - really, the only - reason the whole world isn't running on *BSD right now is that the Linux community got a bigger and better developer mindshare, resulting in it developing faster than BSD did. (Twenty years ago, Linux as both a kernel and an operating system platform was way behind FreeBSD. That developer mindshare I mentioned is why that changed pretty rapidly, with the two swapping places somewhere in the mid to late oughts.)

Allow me to go ahead and place my bet now: that doiemedo (or however you spell it) article is a bunch of vapors; Linux will be just fine, thank you very much. Feel free to point and laugh a year (or five) from now if I'm wrong; anybody else want to plunk their own virtual currency down on the other side and say doiemedo is exactly right and this is "the beginning of the end" and Linux will be dead soon? =)

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[Jay Little]

Regardless of whether or not Linux is at the beginning of the end (spoiler: I don't think it is), it is true that Linux has a bit of a Steve Jobs-esque problem when it comes to Linus. How well the kernel can be managed sans Linus without allowing one or more of the major corporate sponsors of the Linux Foundation to wield an undue amount of influence over the process remains to be seen.

Warning: Soapbox content ahead. One part of the article I take severe issue with is the mention of Google Fuschia. Who really cares? Honestly I'm so disgusted by Google's behavior on a regular basis nowadays, its hard for me to believe less Google involvement in Linux would be a bad thing. Mark my words, Android is the new Windows and the less association Linux has with it in the long run, the better it will be for Linux.

I will also say that for years I've had the idea in my head that if the day comes when Linux is no longer suitable for my personal use, I would promptly be switching over to some BSD variant. Likely FreeBSD on the server and TrueOS on the desktop/laptop.

[Jim Salter]

Fuchsia is probably just a fun project to keep very senior developers on the payroll, lest they depart for more interesting waters.

It COULD turn into something directly profitable, but I don't think that's its real intent.

[Thomas Perry]

Transmeta.  An idea before its time.  I still expect it to be a new idea again as a chip on an Nvidia graphics card.