hn-classics/_stories/2000/9659721.md

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2015-06-04T15:01:57.000Z BSD Unix: Power to the people, from the code (2000) http://www.salon.com/2000/05/16/chapter_2_part_one/ vezzy-fnord 82 16 1433430117
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9659721 2000

Third, even if Joy did not piss off his fellow programmers by saying "Read the protocol and write the code," no one who knows him well will deny that it is the kind of thing he could easily have said. Joy's colleagues and professors are unanimous in describing him as a fundamentally nice guy. But like so many great hackers, Joy is also almost unconsciously arrogant. And that arrogance has been, historically, a key part of the BSD legend. As a general rule, programmers tend to have a high opinion of themselves. And as a class, Unix programmers are well known for demonstrating their own special blend of high-priest orneriness. But BSD Unix hackers, with some notable exceptions, are especially virulent in their self-assuredness. They aren't wrong very often, and when they are, convincing them of that fact requires several armies and quite a bit of heavy artillery. Indeed, the easiest explanation for why BSD hackers watch in dismay while Linux-based operating systems sweep the world is that, for years, subsections of the BSD community have been endlessly imitating the mulishness that marked Joy's original reluctance to compromise on TCP/IP.