To the "wannabe elites": a message from Stephen Spielberg

[woodsmoke]

This is ESPECIALLY directed by woodsmoke to all of the "Linux" people who think that they are "smarter" than the average "folk" "because they do Linux and not Windblows.......

The following is as close a "quote" as I can transcribe:

Stephen Spielberg:

"You should not think of yourself as an artist........

you should learn your craft.....

so that OTHERS think of you as an artist.....

THEN....you can POSSIBLY ....POSSIBLY.....think of yourself... as an artist....."

Stephen Spielberg as quoted as best as possible from a discussion on Turner Classic Movies about what "makes and artist".

MODERATORS IN GENERAL: If you wish to remove this post please do so without any consultation with me - woodsmoke

woodsmoke

[Qqmike]

Re: To the "wannabe elites": a message from Stephen Spielberg

That applies to someone who aspires to be an artist. And, having known hundreds of artists, I agree with what he says. Of course, you must have "artistic talent" (whatever that is, it might be pure luck and a knowledge of marketing!), but you must first master your trade, master the technology, the technique, of what you are doing.

Here's a twist in a somewhat different direction, but related. I've mentioned one of my math professors here somewhere before, Paul Halmos, a well-known mathematician, particularly noted for his writing on becoming a mathematician and teaching math.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Halmos

He believed that to be a good mathematician, you must think like and approach your subject as an artist. I see it that way and agree fully. I don't have his direct words handy at this moment, but to quote from that link

"In the American Scientist 56(4): 375–389, Halmos argued that mathematics is a creative art, and that mathematicians should be seen as artists, not number crunchers."

And a google leads you more directly:

Paul Halmos mathematics as art
http://www.google.com/search?q=Paul+...ient=firefox-a

Especially the first pdf link, MATHEMATICS AS A CREATIVE ART
www.ohio.edu/.../Math%20as%20Creative%20Art%20(Halmos).pdf

[woodsmoke]

Re: To the "wannabe elites": a message from Stephen Spielberg

Excellent articles Qqmike!!! really excellent.

However, you took a tangent which I did not expect, because I was emphasizing that there are a lot in the Linux community who just "think of themselves as better" even though they know little of Linux.

I openly admit that I have little clue about all the "Linuxy stuff" that people such as you and the rest of the Kubu people know and that I am just a hardware and applications guy.

But to get back to your WONDERFUL articles....

As a sidelight to them I was involved in the construction of one of the now mandated state secondary school tests(It is NOthing like what we intended after the bureaucrats got finished with it).

But, testimony was given by a major bridge builder and he said that he wanted all students to have an "art" class which moved somewhat away from drawing on paper, which he said was good, but to reduce the volume of that and spend at least "some" time on the general idea of "design" and this was because "a bridge that does not 'look good' will probably fail".

That was rather stunning testimony from someone who we thought was going to beat his fist on the table about more math classes.

Ummmmm has his recommendation been implemented in even the slightest way...? No...

Again, excellent articles...

woodsmoke

[DoYouKubuntu]

Re: To the "wannabe elites": a message from Stephen Spielberg

However, you took a tangent which I did not expect, because I was emphasizing that there are a lot in the Linux community who just "think of themselves as better" even though they know little of Linux.

Speaking only for myself, my reasons for looking down on folks who use windoze are multi-faceted. For one, having started computing on UNIX, and then seeing how archaic and idiotic DOS and then windoze were, I just couldn't/can't understand why people use such crap when there are vastly superior alternatives. Second, I truly despise Micro$oft's business practices and so, by extrapolation, I dislike windoze...period. Third, I think people are morons for continually shelling out money--lots and lots of money--to Micro$oft for everything from their inferior OS to products such as Office, when there are SUPERIOR and FREE alternatives available. To summarize: I think people who use windoze are making a bad choice. But that's just my [not necessarily] humble opinion.

[SteveRiley]

Re: To the "wannabe elites": a message from Stephen Spielberg

seeing how archaic and idiotic...windoze [was]

I'll quibble with only this point. Have you ever tried managing environments with 10,000 servers and 500,000 PCs? Microsoft may have its faults, but when it comes to automating the enterprise management of massive installations, Active Directory and group policy and System Center are still far ahead of what anyone else offers. So much so that there's a thriving after-market for products that integrate Mac and, yes, Linux into Active Directory for configuration managment and policy enforcement. IMHO, this is the one thing that holds Linux back from desktop domination.

MODERATORS IN GENERAL: If you wish to remove this post please do so without any consultation with me

You worry too much, Mr. woodjustsofullofideasicantcontainmyselfsmoke

[DoYouKubuntu]

Re: To the "wannabe elites": a message from Stephen Spielberg

seeing how archaic and idiotic...windoze [was]

I'll quibble with only this point. Have you ever tried managing environments with 10,000 servers and 500,000 PCs?

No, I haven't. When I was managing multi-user environments I was first dealing with Wyse terminals and then, later, PCs. But nowhere close to half a million of them!

Microsoft may have its faults, but when it comes to automating the enterprise management of massive installations, Active Directory and group policy and System Center are still far ahead of what anyone else offers. So much so that there's a thriving after-market for products that integrate Mac and, yes, Linux into Active Directory for configuration managment and policy enforcement. IMHO, this is the one thing that holds Linux back from desktop domination.

I'll have to defer to you on this because it's outside my realm of personal knowledge. It's just that I--as a hardcore *nixster of 25+ years--have a hard time imagining ANYTHING M$ does better than *nix. :P

By the way, I read an article a couple days ago, Where Linux crushes Windows like a bug: Supercomputers, and just kind of shrugged my shoulders and went, duh! Among other things, it says that:

Linux runs 457 of the world’s fastest computers. That’s 91.4%. Linux is followed by Unix, with 30 or 6%; mixed operating systems with 11 supercomputers, 2.2%. In the back of the line, you’ll find OpenSolaris and BSD with 1 computer and–oh me, oh my–Windows also with just 1 supercomputer to its credit. That’s a drop from 4 in the last supercomputer round up in June.

[SteveRiley]

Re: To the "wannabe elites": a message from Stephen Spielberg

have a hard time imagining ANYTHING M$ does better than *nix. :P

Believe me, opening a GUI, clicking a couple radio buttons, and pushing a policy down to half a million nodes is pretty amazing. Fact: one large organization I know made a simple change, using AD group policy, to automatically put monitors to sleep after a 10-minute idle period. Their electric bill decreased by $200,000 a month.

Windows also with just 1 supercomputer to its credit. That’s a drop from 4 in the last supercomputer round up in June.

Yeah, Windows HPC...who knew?