25 August 2008

The Operating System as Prison

Microsoft's OS as prison [according to Linux Foundation's king of kings, Jim Zemlin]:

These prison facilities are horrible. This is the largest, most difficult prison to escape from in the world but the security is horrible. Everyone is stealing each other’s data and you are sharing a cell with an angry 300 pound piece of malware. The prison warden, Steve Ballmer, walks around often claiming he wants a kinder gentler and more open prison, but everyone knows he is lying.

Apple:

Each cell is a plush luxury suite overlooking the ocean. You can get movies ordered to your room all day and the music selection is great. Your cell mates are cool hipsters and they have great parties that last all night long. It is almost like staying at a five star hotel with the only catch being that you can’t ever leave.

Sun Solaris:

This prison seems desolate and strangely empty.

Ha!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glyn,

I think you need to make this more obvious that you are quoting Jim Zemlin. When I read your post in my blog reader, it looks like all these descriptions were yours. Then I got to Jim's post and I went, wait! I read all this before.

Glyn Moody said...

Thanks for the warning. I suppose I do tend to be pithy here....

It's a matter of "house" style: the indented italics are always quotations from other people: my own words are normal.

As the link makes clear, I'm certainly not trying to claim Jim's wit for my own: on the contrary, I'm keen to drive people there to enjoy it in its natural habitat....