Because the right to an opinion is so fundamental to us that when someone
claims yours is stupid for reasons you (or me, or anyone) find unfair, we
stand up and say so. It's not a sign of being stupid. It's a sign of being
protective about a very basic democratic right, and oss people are usually
very protective about those. Freedom of everything comes easier to people
than "force christianity on the world, but keep your sources open!".
Linus is definitely not the most polite of people out there. Had he been
less than top-ranked in the meritocracy he would have been utterly and
totally annihilated on several mailing lists a really long time ago. At
the same time, he's entitled to his opinion the same way everyone is, and
he's entitled to express it any way he wants. When he's *really* off the
mark, people will tell him so. Or ignore him totally, like an embarrassing
grandfather who's just gotten too drunk at the christmas dinner and started
fondling his grandsons girlfriend. However, the same goes for everyone else,
and Linus *is* fond of telling people "so". If nothing else, it saves
time to head off dead ends right at the start.
Linus isn't sacrosankt, just enough of a corner-stone that people will keep
listening to him even if he's wildly offending.
tabs-vs-spaces is not, I feel, a discussion that has a great impact in
the world, so being "really off the mark" is not really possible there.
--
Andreas Ericsson andreas.ericsson@op5.se
OP5 AB www.op5.se
Tel: +46 8-230225 Fax: +46 8-230231
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