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Linux 3.0-rc1 is here

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Re: Linux 3.0-rc1 is here

#61
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

added the name :)

That's a start, but people only read that name after they've read the quote. Helpful conventions for quotes are: "quotes" - Linus Torvalds quotes - Linus Torvalds

I think you'll agree with me when I say that people only read the name after they've read the quote in your examples too.

Re: Linux 3.0-rc1 is here

#62
post #35
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't know you were quoting Linus, you should make it more obvious.

It's funny and upsetting how I get more upvotes for comments like these than for things I actually put some thought into.

Not really. It's a sign of an unwelcome demographic change.

Re: Linux 3.0-rc1 is here

#63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, nice. "Major version? Minor version? Revision? What're those? I like round numbers." Why not just go to a basic increment (Linux 3, 4, 5, 6, ...), or a date-based (Linux 2011! Now with new ribbon interface!) numbering instead? ...eh. I dunno why this bothers me so much.

It shouldn't. Open source version numbers greater than 1.0 dont mean a whole lot. Chrome, the browser, around version 8 (give or take). How much sense does that make?

8? I'm running Chrome 11!

Re: Linux 3.0-rc1 is here

#64
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although that's not very interesting either. Linus: "What's new?" Linus: "Nothing."

Yeah, nice. "Major version? Minor version? Revision? What're those? I like round numbers." Why not just go to a basic increment (Linux 3, 4, 5, 6, ...), or a date-based (Linux 2011! Now with new ribbon interface!) numbering instead? ...eh. I dunno why this bothers me so much.

Isn't the point of this to start correctly using the minor version numbers again, to get back to a good versioning system? And since it's a different scheme it makes a lot of sense to increment the major version to separate it.

Re: Linux 3.0-rc1 is here

#65
post #35
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't know you were quoting Linus, you should make it more obvious.

It's funny and upsetting how I get more upvotes for comments like these than for things I actually put some thought into.

You've provided a valuable service and saved people time. The first question anyone will have about Kernel 3.0 is "What's new/different in it from 2.6.39?". By summarizing/quoting you let people skip skimming the article, or a Google search, and saved them time.

Re: Linux 3.0-rc1 is here

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a start, but people only read that name after they've read the quote. Helpful conventions for quotes are: "quotes" - Linus Torvalds quotes - Linus Torvalds

I think you'll agree with me when I say that people only read the name after they've read the quote in your examples too.

When I see something in "quotes" or quotes, I usually look to the end to see the attribution before reading it.

Re: Linux 3.0-rc1 is here

#67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noticed the same. Most of my posts that have been massively upvoted were suggestions or small corrections. The posts in which I take time to explain something non-trivial generally end up with 2-3 votes at most. Amount of karma is not a measure of interestingness of the contribution, it's used mainly as an 'agree' button.

This is almost certainly caused by the decision to hide comment score. If people could see that this kind of comment (f.ex. a small correction) already had its fair share of upvotes they would leave it at that, but as it is now everybody who sees it upvotes it.

I've noticed no such change in my own comment scores with or without scores displayed. I think it's a problem intrinsic to comment voting systems. I see the same problem at all such websites I've frequented.

Re: Linux 3.0-rc1 is here

#68
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although that's not very interesting either. Linus: "What's new?" Linus: "Nothing."

Yeah, nice. "Major version? Minor version? Revision? What're those? I like round numbers." Why not just go to a basic increment (Linux 3, 4, 5, 6, ...), or a date-based (Linux 2011! Now with new ribbon interface!) numbering instead? ...eh. I dunno why this bothers me so much.

Because the number can still mean something. Does anyone have any major arguments against or issues with semantic versioning? http://semver.org/

Re: Linux 3.0-rc1 is here

#69

One the one hand, the "benevolent dictator" model has shown itself to work pretty well for Linux, compared to some major failings of the "committee" model on other projects. On the other hand, does anyone think the fact that "major" changes can be done by one person who is "just going all alpha-male" will potentially spook people? I mean, I doubt too many people here on hn have a problem with Linus' personality. I im…

Lots of commercial software has version numbers assigned for marketing reasons and largely independent of technical changes.

For example, Windows 7 is internally Windows NT 6.2.

Re: Linux 3.0-rc1 is here

#70

One the one hand, the "benevolent dictator" model has shown itself to work pretty well for Linux, compared to some major failings of the "committee" model on other projects. On the other hand, does anyone think the fact that "major" changes can be done by one person who is "just going all alpha-male" will potentially spook people? I mean, I doubt too many people here on hn have a problem with Linus' personality. I im…

Lots of commercial software has version numbers assigned for marketing reasons and largely independent of technical changes.

See Slackware's jump from version 4 to version 7, or more recently, Mozilla's reconfiguration of its versioning system to make the numbers more closely match Chrome and IE version numbers (where v11 and v9 are the current stable releases respectively -- Mozilla is on a measly v4). This doesn't just occur in commercial software.
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