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Hans Reiser on ReiserFS deprecation in the Linux kernel

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Re: Hans Reiser on ReiserFS deprecation in the Linux kernel

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't believe he did. He's just angling for his next parole date as he got denied this year.

He was denied two years ago.

He planned the murder of the mother of his kids, I'm pretty sure he can plan well in advance for a parole hearing. I wouldn't put anything past the likes of Hans Reiser or Peter Madsen.

Re: Hans Reiser on ReiserFS deprecation in the Linux kernel

#112
post #78
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that a restating of Metcalfe's law? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalfe%27s_law [EDIT: I have misunderstood Metcalfe's Law for over 20 years, assuming that "connections" meant edges in the following quote. Metcalfe intended to mean that the value of the network grows as the square of the number of nodes because "connections" here aren't edges, they're fully reachable pairs of nodes. Thanks, again, HN, for he…

> Generally speaking, "the value of a graph is proportional to the square of the number of edges" No, what Metcalfe's law assumes is that the value of the graph is proportional to the number of edges (not their square). And from that assumption and the fact that the graph is fully connected follows that it's proportional to the square of the number of nodes. (Because you can have (n-1)*n/2 edges with n nodes in a ful…

So, the wikipedia first line is wrong, you're saying? "Metcalfe's law states that the financial value or influence of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users of the system"

Later in the article it seems like the original stating is more consistent with what you said, but everything I've ever learned in network theory and practice shows that it scales as a power of number of edges, and the logarithm of the number of nodes.

Re: Hans Reiser on ReiserFS deprecation in the Linux kernel

#113

That was fascinating. It sounds like he’s done some real introspection during his lockup, and I hope he’s able to apply those learnings to future situations. I felt bad for him[0] while reading. He was a brilliant young person with a big dream, yet without the interpersonal skills to help him realize it. I’ve seen that so often. Maybe this will help me look past the next person’s challenging communications, and think…

I don't believe he did. He's just angling for his next parole date as he got denied this year.

That's very possible. Some of his phrasing sounded like he hoped the parole board would be reading it: I accept responsibility for my crime, I'm using the skills I'm learning in prison, etc. etc.

Still, if you asked me about my own sins, I might say similar things: I accept responsibility for acting like a jackass, I'm using the skills I've learned from mentors and through meditation and mindfulness, etc. etc. I'd be completely earnest about all that. I've behaved poorly in the past, decided I wanted to be a better person, and genuinely try to do that. If I want people to take me at my word and believe that I'm trying to be better, I have to take him at his word until proven wrong.

(One of my sins was unnecessary cynicism. I have the luxury of it not mattering to me whether he's sincere or not, and I think it's a healthier mindset for me to accept stories like his at face value than to default to mistrusting everyone. I'm not naive, though. The people in his life need to weigh that a lot more carefully than I need to.)

Re: Hans Reiser on ReiserFS deprecation in the Linux kernel

#114
post #19

I think about Hans Reiser pretty often, incidentally, because there is a quote from him I read as a teenager that stuck with me. "The utility of an operating system is proportional to the number of connections possible between its components, than it is to the number of those components." — Hans Reiser (from http://web.archive.org/web/20040126210110/http://unununium.o... ) It's hard to reconcile good things a person…

> That sentence is a guiding principle of software design that I cannot often quote, without entering into a huge discussion on the pain Reiser has caused That's a shame. He did something awful, but that's nothing at all to do with the idea in the quotation. Ideas shouldn't be cursed because the wrong person said them; they should stand or fall on their own merits.

Certainly, I have an issue with this idea that everything a person does gets cancelled because the person gets cancelled. Particularly in this era of intense political polarization.... It is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

The world is full of examples of art and science from troubled individuals; much of our foundational understanding of certain areas of science is derived from the learned experiences of inhumane research conducted by nazis or WW2 japan. Yet one guy murders his wife and suddenly we are all rejecting a perfectly cromulent filesystem.

Re: Hans Reiser on ReiserFS deprecation in the Linux kernel

#115
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect many are aware of this but for those uninformed: Reiser committed premeditated murder of his (ex?)wife Nina around 2006 and hid her body so well they could not find her. He made his children think either that their mother abandoned them. He had thought without a body he could not be charged and convicted. I believe he waited until it was apparent he would lose the trial and then plead down so that they coul…

He was far less of a mastermind than he fancied himself at the time. If I recall, he bought a book on murder investigations and a socket set after his wife's disappearance (which was easily tracked back to him), removed car seats (blood) from his car, and willingly testified in court that it was his manly dream to sleep in the car, or something along these lines. He could have likely gotten away with it if he kept hi…

He could have likely gotten away with it

He had a plea deal offer for not much more than time served so he even had a definite option to a form of getting away with it.

Re: Hans Reiser on ReiserFS deprecation in the Linux kernel

#116
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because he's not like the rest of us. He's human and killing other humans is something a humans can do, given the right circumstances.

Yes, but normally you have a fairly high bar to cross before you would resort to such an act, and it would be in the context of self defense or something equivalent. To kill your wife in a premeditated manner is not something most humans can do, even given the 'right' circumstances, most people would resolve a conflict at that level in a different way.

Yeah I don't get how some frame this as a mistake that just happens or how it shouldn't define the person. When, no it doesn't happen!! And yes it absolutely should define how we perceive them? Maybe I just live a sheltered life but murdering your wife is probably a sign of.. something bad in you as a person? And it's super super uncommon and extreme.

Re: Hans Reiser on ReiserFS deprecation in the Linux kernel

#118
Others have commented on other parts of the letter but I find it very amusing he is basically stuck in a 2006 view of the tech world. Slashdot and HDD seek times immediately jumped out as things are as dead as they can be.

I wonder if he even knows about smartphones.

Update: As of right now Slashdot.Org hasn't posted this

Re: Hans Reiser on ReiserFS deprecation in the Linux kernel

#119
post #19

I think about Hans Reiser pretty often, incidentally, because there is a quote from him I read as a teenager that stuck with me. "The utility of an operating system is proportional to the number of connections possible between its components, than it is to the number of those components." — Hans Reiser (from http://web.archive.org/web/20040126210110/http://unununium.o... ) It's hard to reconcile good things a person…

[flagged]

Re: Hans Reiser on ReiserFS deprecation in the Linux kernel

#120

That was fascinating. It sounds like he’s done some real introspection during his lockup, and I hope he’s able to apply those learnings to future situations. I felt bad for him[0] while reading. He was a brilliant young person with a big dream, yet without the interpersonal skills to help him realize it. I’ve seen that so often. Maybe this will help me look past the next person’s challenging communications, and think…

Maybe he wants to learn, or maybe he's a psychopath trying to upgrade his human emulation software so he can get out sooner. Even experts find it hard to tell.
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