I get your point. There are those who like it with rubber, and there are those who don't. As for me, rubber is rubbish :-)

There, you finally grasped the idea of Slashdot :-)

then they probably know where I'll be tommorow (just don't tell my girlfriend)

Errm... Playing games ?

(Mod me insightful ;)

Not me... Hated the keyboard with rubber keys and the crude T9 typing. Managed to retype one or two half-page listings of funny text animations from computer magazines and was totally fed up and non-enthusiastic about this programming thing. I became enthusiastic much later, when windows 95 and Borland Delphi came around.

But I admit I enjoyed playing games on it and I've broken a few joysticks on decathlon-type games.

Are there hints that /. users have any influence on politicians ? Well, there was a million dollar prize given to Linus Torvalds for "technology innovation", but I'm not sure there were politicians involved...

Well, in case they develop an advanced civilization from the abundance of healthy drinking water, they can build pipelines...

Yeah ? Well, just look at them. They already can and do more people than they can possibly feed. It seems they don't need to think about it, they just do.

My 20-year old Sony Trinitron beats iPad 3 Screen Quality. If I had a strange name like "Pixel Qi" or "Kim Dotcom" would this make a slashdot story ?

Yes exactly. Turn on any music channel and you will see. Lots of overgrown kids. They're not 15 to 20 anymore, yet they all dress and behave like, I'd say 10 to 15.

By and large, these people are not what I consider as representative "middle-aged persons" (age-wise, yes; as representatives, no). They just make kids (or idiots) of themselves. It's just role-playing. Or maybe it's the Peter-Pan syndrome. I don't know. But most middle-aged persons you meet, work with and live with everyday don't look or behave like this, or do they ?

Kids don't give a damn about what the middle-aged-pricks say. "The main route by which culture is transferred" is TV.

It's surely cheaper

These studies are fraud !!!

Yes, agreed. And I use lots of popular, free software everyday, that have grown as free alternatives to commercial systems. But they don't get Nobel prizes or awards for "technical innovation", even though sometimes should. Take python for example - a pet project also, released to the public also, but not copying any existing system or idea. This is my idea of innovation.

So. let me restate the question - how is Linux a technology innovation ?

PS thanks to whoever modded my post as "Troll" - you've put a smile on my face for the rest of the day :-)

I'm not sure what you mean, Barbara (but thanks for the award anyway). I don't like Windows that much - but I'm happy that it "just works". And every new piece of equipment or application that I'd like to use - I'm also pretty sure it will "just work". I ran the installer 1000 times to get (close to) 1000 working Windows installations - for myself, other people, and clients. Installed a few other systems also - yes, linux too. I managed to get a working router installation, but a fully usable linux desktop system - never. And I don't think I'm a computer illiterate (people asked me many, many times about help with computers, and they were usually satisfied; apart from the one or two guys who decided to install linux and I just couldn't help them to play a dvd without choking or to exchange data with a cellphone - just some trivial examples)