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Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 17:04:14 -0400
From: "Eric S. Raymond" <esr@thyrsus.com>
To: Linux Weekly News <lwn@lwn.net>, editors@linuxtoday.com,
Subject: Ken Thompson clarifies matters

In a recent interview <http://computer.org/computer/thompson.htm>, Ken
Thompson (the inventor of Unix) said some unkind things about
Linux. Like many other people, I found this a rather shocking development.  
I wrote him a note requesting clarification, and Ken has graciously given
me permission to quote the things he wrote in our subsequent exchange
of views.

The best news, I guess, is that Ken says he didn't intend to write off
Linux itself as simply an anti-Microsoft backlash; what he was trying
to say was that he believes the recent popularity of Linux in the
press is an anything-but-Microsoft phenomenon.  He adds ``i very much
appreciate the chance to look at available code when i am faced with
the task of interfacing to some nightmare piece of hardware'' and that
``i think the open software movement (and linux in particular) is
laudable.''

Ken further adds ``i dont see eye-to-eye with microsoft's business
practices.''  His original language was rather stronger and more
entertaining, but he asked me not to quote that in order to avoid
giving Lucent's lawyers heart failure.

The bad news is that Ken still thinks Linux is flaky.  I offered to
have VA Linux Labs ship him a machine so he could see what a properly
tuned modern Linux looks like, but he said he couldn't accept.  He
adds ``i do believe that in a race, it is naive to think linux has a
hope of making a dent against microsoft starting from way behind with
a fraction of the resources and amateur labor. (i feel the same about
unix.)''

I cited all the case studies and trend curves and statistics you'd
expect me to.  He didn't respond directly to those, but I hope I at least
gave him some things to think about.

Ken did finish by saying ``i must say the linux community is a lot
nicer than the unix community. a negative comment on unix would
warrent death threats. with linux, it is like stirring up a nest of
butterflies.''  (Hm.  Butterfly T-shirts, anyone?)

Overall, Ken didn't seem hostile or bitter to me, as some people
charged after the interview. He sounded more like somebody who's had
high hopes for his children dashed so many times that he won't let
himself believe that this time might be the charm.

It's up to us to prove him wrong -- and by so doing to prove him right.
-- 
		<a href="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr">Eric S. Raymond</a>

The whole of the Bill [of Rights] is a declaration of the right of the
people at large or considered as individuals...  It establishes some
rights of the individual as unalienable and which consequently, no
majority has a right to deprive them of.
         -- Albert Gallatin, Oct 7 1789