Ways In Which Linux Is Like Theology
Typing this from the laptop in bed because I'm sick as a dog today...
The Linux Counter website is keeping a list, at least as far back as 1993, of people who use Linux. I'm registered Linux user number 397,108. Actually, it doesn't count Linux users who either don't care about reporting this fact statistically, or don't have e-mail and web access to get to the site, or let their registration lapse after two years. The estimated number of users is 29 million. Well... that's if you include devices like phones and TiVo. But Linux is like God in several respects.
As soon as you make any statement about it whatsoever, such as the one above, even if its agreed upon by 13 million people, one person will stand up and contradict you and say they have a special revelation.
This is often done by re-defining the meaning of a word in the claim such as "god" or "Linux", which was vaguely defined to begin with. The English language then ceases to be a public participatory activity and a different version belongs to each tiny faction who think theirs is the correct one.
The disagreeing person is really talking about something else, because Linux, like gods, takes a million forms for a million different purposes and priorities.
So it pretty much is whatever one particular adherent says it is.
Linuxes are like gods in the way that the biggest competitor is other versions of itself.
The "socially-conscious" see it as a way to right the wrongs in the world, and not a form of personal enrichment.
The "spiritual-but-not-religious" see it as a form of personal enrichment, and not a way to save the world.
God is like Linux because they both have enterprise users who preach the gospel of health, wealth and prosperity.
Fluffy bunny desktop users.
Followers who speak in obfuscated tongues.
Unbelievers who only show up for worship because they like the other members.
Believers who don't show up because they dislike the other members.
Gods are like Linuxes because they both have users who have to sacrifice a chicken to get it working.
Power users who insist on a verbal command-line interface through private prayer with no intermediary.
Users who prefer the graphical interface of a rosary and liturgy.
Casual users who demand compatibility with legacy code and hardware, take whatever's handed down to them, and make frequent calls to a high priest of tech support.
Mobile phone/TiVo/PDA users who don't even know its there and would just as soon use something else.
The Linux Counter website is keeping a list, at least as far back as 1993, of people who use Linux. I'm registered Linux user number 397,108. Actually, it doesn't count Linux users who either don't care about reporting this fact statistically, or don't have e-mail and web access to get to the site, or let their registration lapse after two years. The estimated number of users is 29 million. Well... that's if you include devices like phones and TiVo. But Linux is like God in several respects.
As soon as you make any statement about it whatsoever, such as the one above, even if its agreed upon by 13 million people, one person will stand up and contradict you and say they have a special revelation.
This is often done by re-defining the meaning of a word in the claim such as "god" or "Linux", which was vaguely defined to begin with. The English language then ceases to be a public participatory activity and a different version belongs to each tiny faction who think theirs is the correct one.
The disagreeing person is really talking about something else, because Linux, like gods, takes a million forms for a million different purposes and priorities.
So it pretty much is whatever one particular adherent says it is.
Linuxes are like gods in the way that the biggest competitor is other versions of itself.
The "socially-conscious" see it as a way to right the wrongs in the world, and not a form of personal enrichment.
The "spiritual-but-not-religious" see it as a form of personal enrichment, and not a way to save the world.
God is like Linux because they both have enterprise users who preach the gospel of health, wealth and prosperity.
Fluffy bunny desktop users.
Followers who speak in obfuscated tongues.
Unbelievers who only show up for worship because they like the other members.
Believers who don't show up because they dislike the other members.
Gods are like Linuxes because they both have users who have to sacrifice a chicken to get it working.
Power users who insist on a verbal command-line interface through private prayer with no intermediary.
Users who prefer the graphical interface of a rosary and liturgy.
Casual users who demand compatibility with legacy code and hardware, take whatever's handed down to them, and make frequent calls to a high priest of tech support.
Mobile phone/TiVo/PDA users who don't even know its there and would just as soon use something else.