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From: Rob Landley <landley@trommello.org>
To: Bruce Harada <bruce@ask.ne.jp>
Subject: Re: Aunt Tillie builds a kernel (was Re: ISA hardware discovery -- the elegant solution)
Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2002 08:27:10 -0500
Cc: esr@thyrsus.com, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
In-Reply-To: <20020114125228.B14747@thyrsus.com> <20020114234129.MGOI23959.femail47.sdc1.sfba.home.com@there> <20020115112239.25e713e0.bruce@ask.ne.jp>
In-Reply-To: <20020115112239.25e713e0.bruce@ask.ne.jp>
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On Monday 14 January 2002 09:22 pm, Bruce Harada wrote:

> As for adding a driver that's not included in the vendor's kernel, do you
> mean that having a Microsoft-trained drone rebuild a kernel specifically
> for a certain PC (thus requiring further compilation for any hardware added
> later) and including a no-doubt beta driver and then giving it to Aunt
> Tillie without any testing beyond the MCSE's PC is a *good* idea?

No, it would be tested on Aunt Tillie's PC, which she brought in for 
upgrading (she's not going to unscrew the case and put a new card in herself, 
is she), and which the drone has never seen before and didn't necessarily 
sell her in the first place.  (Maybe if Aunt Tillie's lucky the store did, 
but this is the new guy and aunt tillie's had the PC for two years, they 
don't sell that model anymore...)

I don't think having a microsoft-trained drone TOUCH a computer is a good 
idea.  But SAIR and Linux+ are going to turn out their own drones with a 
"USDA approved" stamp on their forehead who are NOT hackers, and who intend 
to make a living off of glorified tech support.  It happened in the mainframe 
world, it happened in the minicomputer world, it happened under DOS and 
Windows, and it'll happen under Linux.  And nine to five workers are not 
actually a BAD thing.  Very few actual hackers WANT to babysit database 
schema for Fortune 500 corporations...

The "I summon the vast power of certification" crowd will always be with us.  
Would you rather that the hundreds of thousands of people who get a four year 
degree in computing every year (because they think there's money in it, not 
because they actually LIKE computers) work on windows boxes, or on Linux?  
(Hint: as long as they work on windows boxes, they and their bosses are 
paying money to microsoft, and they are enabling windows-only shops where 
employees send *.doc files to everybody they know, and advancing the dot-net 
flag.)

You can't have total world domination without bringing along the drones.  
Hoping for a world where there ARE no drones is a utopian view.  Hoping for a 
PLATFORM where there are no drones is easily achievable, it's called a "tiny 
niche market".

The drones -ARE- the service industry through which you get aunt tillie.  I 
just think Eric's skipping a step...

Rob
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