re where did the hacker ethic go in article s p n m o pandora sdsu edu add sciences sdsu edu james d murray writes perhaphs what bill gates and steve jobs are now is the result of the natural evolution of a successful hacker either you make money go to jail lee feldenstein sp or just fade away as oh that s uncle so and so who really likes computers what a computer hacker is and does will change as long as the definition of the word computer continues to change or perhaps you write a freely available gpled unix for commonly available computer platforms i i machines and become a catalyst for a major netwide project which produces a better unix like os than many commercial counterparts see comp os linux for details or maybe you found a legue for programming freedom to fight restrictive litigation and software patenting practices thereby protecting the creative freedom so vital to continuing progress in our field or maybe you start up a gnu project and produce by far and away the best c c compiler for unix there is not to mention other valuable utilities some hackers make significant contributions without selling out their ideals as for bill gates after pawning of grossly inferior software onto the pc market for ten years if he ever was a hacker he deserves to have his name eradicated from the annals of computer hackery as for me i like running linux x countless other packages without paying a dime on the other hand i have no problem purchasing motif or other good software as long as microsoft hasn t fouled it with their inept input my cents worth flames will be patiently ignored jean jean liddle computer science illinois state university e mail jliddle ilstu edu
