LOTR and Linux?

[Max Blanco]

On Sun, 23 Nov 2003, James Knott wrote:

> Linux is very popular in the computer generated animation business. 
> There was an article in the Linux Journal a couple of years ago, about 
> using it in the production of Titanic.
> 
> It seems those guys love Linux clusters.

When I arrived at the group with which I am associated, in 1994, it ran
SGI machines for their graphics visualization environments (I entertained
myself programming in a precursor to OpenGL).  In early 1995 (?) a few
students attempted to convince the purse-string holder to transfer to
linux.  First one linux machine and then another popped up.  By 1998 the
transition was complete.  The unspoken (by me, at least) question was 

"Why spend gobs of money on proprietary hardware and a proprietary OS
(especially when the support we got was worse than a kick in the head)
when we could do it--with the ability to understand our tools
inhouse--much cheaper and better (less curses to boot*)?"  

That question was took a long time to formulate in my percolator, largely
because I could not at first understand the tool.  In short, I was
ignorant.  More properly put:  the tools dominated the man.  (Not so
anymore!, I like to tell myself.)

I have advocated that knowledgeable persons from this group attempt to
save ourselves, as taxpayers in Toronto, gobs of money and have a better
city to boot, for precisely that reason.

I consider that to be what Mr. Gates fears: understanding.  His castle is
built on sand.  He knows it and I know it.  I propose to take money away
from a spoiled brat who is due for a reckoning.  I propose this quietly
but firmly, and, most of all, very openly.

[* I was once a sailor with respect to my terminal.  I do not consider
myself to have cussed at my computer since at least mid-1998.  This has
everything to do with the transition from ignorance to (supposed)
dominance, and also may be why I choose to use RedHat 5.0: because I
*understand* it.]

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