The Linux kernel trumps the moonshot by a few orders of magnitude
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Re: The Linux kernel trumps the moonshot by a few orders of magnitude
#2I totally agree with this post,but the reasons people think this way is obvious. It's much easier to look at a ginormous rocket blasting off in a fiery cloud of steam and crushing noise as something BIG, than it is to see an operating system kernel as big.
Re: The Linux kernel trumps the moonshot by a few orders of magnitude
#3"This is a silly game show to play, but if I had to choose between a Saturn V with three dudes and a lunar landing module strapped to the top of it and a DVD with the Linux kernel, I’d point to the DVD as having a bigger impact."
I think he should have stopped after the first comma. Why compare incomparable things? Pick one axis, thing A is better. Pick another axis, thing B is better.
Re: The Linux kernel trumps the moonshot by a few orders of magnitude
#4I think the issue is that to the average person, there is nothing inspiring about the linux kernel.
The space race created a large amount of respect for science/research in the public eye - something that results in more kids enrolled in science and math programs. The long tail effect of sending people to the moon is a lot hard to measure than KLOC.
Re: The Linux kernel trumps the moonshot by a few orders of magnitude
#5Can't cosign this one, I think its a grave underestimation of the import of a species being able to escape however briefly from their home planet.
100 years from now, linux will probably have gone the way of the doodoo bird, certainly by 500 years from now it will have... 500 years from now the question of whether or not man has ever set foot on the moon, and when that first occurred will still have impact
Re: The Linux kernel trumps the moonshot by a few orders of magnitude
#6By this logic, janitorial work should trump the Linux kernel -- there are far more janitors out there than Linux developers. Janitors are everywhere. We rely on them all the time.
The difference between the lunar missions and the Linux kernel is easy to see, if you bother to pay attention. Decades of research in numerous fields were required before the Apollo missions could happen. Experts in numerous fields had to collaborate on the mission. There were no mistakes to learn from -- nobody had done a lunar mission before. By comparison, the Linux kernel only represents expertise in one particular field, it is certainly not the result of cutting-edge research, and there is nothing particularly special about writing a kernel.
Re: The Linux kernel trumps the moonshot by a few orders of magnitude
#7I'm trying to come up with a pithy response, but I'm kind of speechless. Sure Linux is a triumph, but... Seriously? Is the author trolling?
Re: The Linux kernel trumps the moonshot by a few orders of magnitude
#8Some background:
"At its peak, the Apollo program employed 400,000 people and required the support of over 20,000 industrial firms and universities."
Sure the Linux kernel is a valuable project but in terms of engineering effort IMHO the comparison isn't fair.
Re: The Linux kernel trumps the moonshot by a few orders of magnitude
#9By this logic, janitorial work should trump the Linux kernel -- there are far more janitors out there than Linux developers. Janitors are everywhere. We rely on them all the time. The difference between the lunar missions and the Linux kernel is easy to see, if you bother to pay attention. Decades of research in numerous fields were required before the Apollo missions could happen. Experts in numerous fields had to c…
> and there is nothing particularly special about writing a kernel.
My support on this phrase, I had had discussions about this and can get very controversial.
Re: The Linux kernel trumps the moonshot by a few orders of magnitude
#10This article incorrectly refers to Linux as an operating system.