[Wylug-discuss] [WYLUG-DISCUSS] Stuck with Ubuntu?

[Mike Goodman]

On 29 March 2012 19:14, Paul Brook <paul at codesourcery.com> wrote:
>> On 29 March 2012 07:27, Andy Stanford <ajstanford at andystanford.me.uk> wrote:
>> > It stays fairly current, particularly with the more popular apps, but not
>> > so bleeding edge that you have to massage (or sledgehammer) it back into
>> > life after an update.
>>
>> That's the second time in this thread I've seen the same appalling
>> American misquote. Edges cannot bleed. A leading edge, the correct
>> expression, can cause bleeding if sharp enough and on an appropriate
>> instrument. The edge itself, however, will not bleed however badly it
>> is mistreated. Would anyone still confused please use the alternative
>> correct term to imply a latest advance, cutting edge. :-)
>
> Misquoting whom?  If an American is being quoted, then it's likely that the
> quote is accurate, regardless of whether the phrase has a sound logical basis.
> Many of the best quotes come from speakers deliberatly misusing conventional
> language structure.
>
> Whether you like it or not, "bleeding edge" is a widely accepted term.  IMHO
> It's about as accurate as a "dripping tap".  A tap doesn't drip, the water
> leaking through it does.
>
>> > From what you've said about what you're looking for, it might be worth a
>> > try.
>>
>> Indeed, it seems you have understood the problem. So I could rely on
>> very common apps such as FF. GIMP and whatever the default office
>> suite is not continuing to the point beyond which they are supported?
>
> What exactly are you asking here? I can't make sense of your last sentence.
> Continuing what?
>
> If you're working in isolation from the rest of the world, then a given system
> either works or it doesn't.  And it will continue to do so indefinitely[1].
>
> As soon as you connect a system to the rest of the world (in particular the
> internet), either directly or indirectly, you have to worry about active
> maintenance.  Primarily security (new threats are continually evolving and
> exploiting previously undiscovered flaws), but also just to communicate with
> other systems that will change over time.  The whole point of a distro
> providing support for a release is that they will perform this security
> maintenance.  Once that support period ends, connecting such a machine to the
> internet is irresponsible and often harmful to others.
>
> Paul
>
> [1] Hardware dies eventually, but in practice is usually obsolete and
> discarded before that happens.

I was about to reply to Martyn off-list when Paul chipped in. So I've
given it a couple of hours to see if there were any more takers for
that particular bandwagon before replying within the thread. All
triggered from my reply to Andy's very helpful post, the first part of
which was intended as flippant, indeed light hearted. Obviously
misinterpreted by some as far from it. I make no apology for the fact
that flippancy in print often does not match what can be done verbally
by intonation aided by facial expression. Both of you have my email
address, indeed it is repeated on list. If you wish to bring anything
to my attention, including questioning my behaviour or language, you
could have done so privately. I have said and done nothing which I
need to defend. Please see this response to your inaccurate assertions
and the pedantry with which they were delivered as a reply with equal
but far more accurate pedantry of my own and as an equal and opposite
attack upon your own failings.

Martyn, modern languages such as English can be described as "live" in
contrast to "dead" languages such as Latin. They can also be seen as
"organic", in that they grow and change over time. The meaning of
individual words within a modern language can and often does also
change over time. Slowly. Anarchy, however, would render a language
meaningless outside a small clique of people using their own specific
jargon, arguing endlessly about the meaning of the word when last
used. Imagine the Norwegian experience of using English because half
can't understand the other's dialect, transposed to village boundaries
as an example. Picture within it the harvest going to rot due to
people understanding an earlier meanings of words used with new
meanings indiscriminately. Society as we know it would not yet have
been reached. Chimps come to mind.

The misuse of the expression "bleeding edge" in place of "leading
edge" came into being long before it was ever used by real
technologists or scientists. To be thoroughly pedantic, it would have
been more accurate to say wrongly repeated rather than misquoted. Some
TV presenter misheard leading edge, reported a bleeding edge something
or other and that somehow was picked up, probably as a mickey-take, by
many other semi-literate, semi-articulate or jesting commentators
across the pond. It was a long time ago and I will not be held to
account for not remembering accurately. How it came into use at all
among a community which requires some level of descriptive accuracy in
order to be able to do its job is beyond me. It is rapidly becoming
widespread but is by no means established yet. One lives in hope. To
describe its origins as anything to do with a knife with blood on is
laughable. A knife with blood on looks like an implement which has
been used to draw blood. A child will tell you that. Why does an adult
have to?

Paul, the final three paragraphs of your second post are utterly
preposterous. You are an intelligent, articulate individual. Do you
post without reading the thread? I may not have spelt it out, but the
time span under consideration is implicitly and clearly the lifetime
of any LTS distro version. The whole question is of a general nature.
It does not require anything like the precision of detail or language
you demand. Ridiculously in my opinion. A general question is
different in form and nature from a specific technical question.
Whilst your earlier post looked pedantic, this took the biscuit. The
finger-wagging lecture in the penultimate and ultimate paragraphs is
just pointless holier-than-thou time-wasting as well as way off
subject.

There is much more I could add but I dare say you have the gist.

I perceive you both as technically (IT-specific technical, that is)
far superior to me. But I have read much from each of you and can
assure you your energy would be better spent examining your own
command of your mother tongue and your general approach to language
before challenging another's. During the interim, please read a thread
through and absorb the context, rather than looking for faults, before
putting metaphorical pen to paper.

That's it on English here for me. If anybody would like to raise it
further please contact me directly or start a new thread. My purpose
here is still to decide which distro to install on my shiny new box
with latest whizzy AMD CPU thingy - just sorry I forgot to tie some
mobo research up with it. :-)