Ha ha -- wow! I had no idea that I possessed such power over time and space! As has already been pointed out to you (and has been pointed out repeatedly on HN over the years), I do regret the remark. So, there's that.
I would also note that the rise of Linux in the late 1990s and early 2000s corresponds with the performance of x86 surpassing the performance of the RISC microprocessors during that same period -- a time when the only other open source Unix was operating under a legal cloud from AT&T. It seems likely that these forces played a greater role than a twentysomething engineer shooting his mouth off on Usenet...
FWIW when I asked the "what's Joyent all about" question I never expected or hoped this would become a "let's blame Bryan Cantrill for random shit" flamefest. I'm not sure where all of that is coming from and I'm sorry if somehow I triggered all that.
You've been a great example to me and many others, in doing open source, in taking a principled stance (even if I subtly disagree with some of your principles) and also in showing that yes, it's totally possible to found a company with an incomprehensible business model, grow it, have it contribute lots and lots to awesome open source, and somehow despite all the free work and the incomprehensibilities, flip it for a profit. One day I hope to do the same and all of HN will be like "huh?"
Hey, thanks for that! The HN comments here today have been full of surprises, not least the intense personalization of it all! I believe that our impact in the world is much more in the people we inspire than in those we rankle -- so in that regard, it's deeply gratifying to know that I have been of service; thank you!
> full of surprises, not least the intense personalization of it all!
I'm surprised you're surprised by this, considering that you have contributed much to the personalization of such matters. The personal "psychologization" of complex social dynamics is pretty much the trademark of many of your talks. If you find psychological explanations attractive, why are you surprised when others do, too?
I think you're right regarding x86 performance being a huge factor. Also my own experience, admining a number of Solaris systems in those days, I just found it more frustrating to use. The first thing I would do was put GNU userland on there to make a Solaris system more usable.
Later on when I had more say in what systems things ran on, I'd reach for Linux because it was easier. It was good enough. I could easily run it at home too, and it ran on cheap hardware.
I sometimes wonder how much that usability factor played a role...
Though AWS seems to be doing fine as a business, so maybe this theory about usability isn't so great.
I would also note that the rise of Linux in the late 1990s and early 2000s corresponds with the performance of x86 surpassing the performance of the RISC microprocessors during that same period -- a time when the only other open source Unix was operating under a legal cloud from AT&T. It seems likely that these forces played a greater role than a twentysomething engineer shooting his mouth off on Usenet...