Post AzVuFkNNSJz5JXa8VE by jeffcliff@shitposter.world
(DIR) More posts by jeffcliff@shitposter.world
(DIR) Post #Ax9xST2iC7q2SV2icy by nixCraft@mastodon.social
2025-08-14T11:44:27Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
Outside the tech world, everyone talks about public figures like Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Sam Altman, and others. However, those in IT or with CS background know that people like Dennis Ritchie, Ken Thompson, Alan Turing, researchers and mathematician are the ones who truly built this industry. Sadly, they don't get enough credit or movies. People these days worship grifters and I think it is really sad.
(DIR) Post #AxCYhFagZnKPhZlYOG by feld@friedcheese.us
2025-08-14T17:10:39.319374Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@nixCraft but nobody is going to go to the theater to watch a movie about hippies inventing Unix. There's no substance for the plot. There's almost no drama. The closest we get to an interesting story about major developments in computing that is relatable to the masses is Pirates of Silicon Valley, and even that was essentially a flop.
(DIR) Post #AxCYhGIdwMURtuKeuG by lienrag@mastodon.tedomum.net
2025-08-14T18:37:06Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@feld Actually and to my great surprise, I did enjoy Halt and Catch Fire.And I'm not the only one.@nixCraft
(DIR) Post #AxCYhH7gsZK6SEDQTQ by besserwisser@shitposter.world
2025-08-15T18:01:59.211097Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
@lienrag @feld @nixCraft It's a really good series. But it also was unfortunately the least successful one of its kind.
(DIR) Post #AzVtDW4ZZ2uKQ69tLs by gcvsa@mstdn.plus
2025-08-14T18:10:33Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@nixCraft Steve Jobs was truly an asshole, but putting him in the same category as Elon Musk and Sam Altman is unwarranted.Jobs understood and cared about design, user experience, and quality in ways that no one else in the industry was willing to promote. The state of computing today would be immeasurably worse without those qualities.
(DIR) Post #AzVtHwrzsJFSgjOEQi by wraptile@fosstodon.org
2025-08-14T11:52:04Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@nixCraft I'd go further and say that there are no magic developers in general. Most technology would be discovered by someone else and co-operation and sharing is much more admirable than personality empire building.
(DIR) Post #AzVtl11tULsjzFsa2K by Thorium@social.linux.pizza
2025-08-14T11:55:08Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@nixCraft Can't leave out Gary Kildall ...
(DIR) Post #AzVtlL7EoC2YHcX88u by jeffcliff@shitposter.world
2025-10-23T21:41:49.108961Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@Thorium @nixCraft ...and mers kutt
(DIR) Post #AzVtm0wjHeae1BwKau by gooseliketyping@corteximplant.com
2025-08-14T11:55:59Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@nixCraft I would watch a movie about Ritchie and Thompson. Call it Plan 9 from Bell Labs.
(DIR) Post #AzVtmkweGHrEgGFur2 by deliverator@infosec.exchange
2025-08-14T11:56:59Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@nixCraft to learn more about how these influential figures can help your B2B sales, subscribe to my newsletter and buy my memecoin! /s
(DIR) Post #AzVtu2FiJM5INze0ga by rejzor@mastodon.social
2025-08-14T13:59:51Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@nixCraft What the fuck has Altman even done? Steve Jobs was weird and he knew to push certain ideas that worked. Elon is probably most famous ideas thief and bullshitter extraordinaire. Can't think of a single thing about Sam Altman. He's just "there".
(DIR) Post #AzVtu3LmEIWpn5UMm8 by jeffcliff@shitposter.world
2025-10-23T21:43:21.706590Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@rejzor @nixCraft given that zuckerberg is willing to pay people 9 figures to replicate it (and they are having a hard time) probably a fair bit.https://www.reddit.com/r/LocalLLaMA/comments/1l9wbaw/meta_is_offering_nine_figure_salaries_to_build/
(DIR) Post #AzVtvJn6aYjd4QsICW by deech@mastodon.social
2025-08-14T14:01:50Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@nixCraft The face of the products people use is the face of the industry. I'm sure we tech people do that to other businesses as well.
(DIR) Post #AzVtwcLb59rMuZcy4O by synlogic@toot.io
2025-08-14T14:56:17Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@nixCraft I get your point. but I'm uncomfortable hitting 'Like' on a post where someone calls Steve Jobs a grifter. one of the two literal founders of Apple and a man who had a massive impact on the course of the development of the computer industry. his skills were a perfect compliment to Woz. right man, right time. was he a perfect being in all possible ways? heck no, but who is?
(DIR) Post #AzVtxG15apDrwYL9eq by sjsmac@mastodon.social
2025-08-14T15:03:32Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@nixCraft Don’t lump Steve Jobs in with Musk or Altman. You meant Zuckerberg.
(DIR) Post #AzVtybHxzN2YCvsIzI by ProphetsCross@mastodon.social
2025-08-14T15:12:27Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@nixCraft Ken Thompson's paper "Reflection's on Trusting Trust" made me want to burn my computer and live in the woods, So I give him credit for the fact I've slowly become less and less reliant on Technology compared to what I used to be.
(DIR) Post #AzVu1Q6K2chwNUlydM by jeffcliff@shitposter.world
2025-10-23T21:44:42.778724Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@ProphetsCross @nixCraft thankfully we have #reproduciblebuilds now
(DIR) Post #AzVu3QbT91IiW0IbOi by AlgoCompSynth@mastodon.social
2025-08-14T15:33:22Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@nixCraft And, of course, Admiral Grace Hopper!
(DIR) Post #AzVu3ebz3u1zxeeD8y by chaksoft@piaille.fr
2025-08-14T15:19:14Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@nixCraft the problem is that we are taught to worship grifters. Look at school books, they'll all say Edison invented the lightbulb. No mention of Lindsay or Swann. Never ever. Same thing for Nikola Tesla...Great inventors are geniuses with great ideas, but they are poor marketers. The grifters are just great marketing people, exceptionnally good at stealing ideas and filing patents before real inventors do and making very big money with them.
(DIR) Post #AzVuCDwZa90lrHMeSO by feld@friedcheese.us
2025-08-14T18:52:04.323794Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@lienrag @nixCraft I forgot about that one, will give it a watch. It was on my list a while ago but I seem to have lost track of it.The problem is that they're not going to get a billion dollars worldwide at the box office for this kind of content, so the appetite for funding these films is pretty weak.
(DIR) Post #AzVuCExfnXUB0yt2oK by lienrag@mastodon.tedomum.net
2025-08-14T20:40:27Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@feld True, but also it shouldn't cost that much to film a bearded guy on a desk.Good scenarists/directors would be needed to make it interesting, but the action itself shouldn't be very expensive to film.@nixCraft
(DIR) Post #AzVuFkNNSJz5JXa8VE by jeffcliff@shitposter.world
2025-10-23T21:47:17.714360Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@nuintari @nixCraft Not everyone accepts his mediocrity
(DIR) Post #AzVuHx0lRuIb553VmC by paul_ipv6@infosec.exchange
2025-08-15T02:02:43Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@nixCraft i think back to Jobs and Wozniak. folks better at talking about "vision" get credit but they frequently aren't the ones who built what the general public gives them credit for. definitely sad but seemingly how things work much of the time.
(DIR) Post #AzVuHxS3oQ8KRjpJK4 by JohnMashey@mstdn.social
2025-08-15T02:34:14Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@nixCraft If you haven't already done so recently, visit the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.Also, peruse the Oral Histories:https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/oral-historyI'd done a few interviews, including of old colleagues: got Ken to talk about computer chess, sadly didn't catch Dennis before he died, did visit Princeton to get Brian Kernighan.