Jamie Zawinski Quotes


"Because, you see, what I want to do is to commoditize the OS. I want to have access to all the applications that I need to do the things that I need to do, regardless."
- Jamie Zawinski
(Related: Want)

"Software Engineering might be science; but that's not what I do. I'm a hacker, not an engineer."
- Jamie Zawinski
(Related: Science, Engineering, Software)

"I don't get much sense of reward from having discovered how to get the Foo card to coexist with the Bar card."
- Jamie Zawinski
(Related: Reward, Sense)

"I eat and drink at my desk, but I'm a tidy eater."
- Jamie Zawinski
"I think Linux is a great thing, because Linux is an alternative to Windows, and because, of all the operating systems that are at all relevant today, Unix is the best of a bad lot."
- Jamie Zawinski
(Related: Linux, Today, Unix, Windows)

"I think Linux is a great thing, in the big picture. It's a great hacker's tool, and it has a lot of potential to become something more."
- Jamie Zawinski
(Related: Linux, Potential)

"I use a really simple calendar program on my computer."
- Jamie Zawinski
(Related: Computer)

"Linux is only free if your time has no value."
- Jamie Zawinski
(Related: Time, Linux, Value)

"Mostly I use the O2 as an X terminal, however, running my apps on Linux and displaying remotely."
- Jamie Zawinski
(Related: Linux, Running)

"My one purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others."
- Jamie Zawinski
(Related: Life, Purpose)

"Of course, all of the software I write runs on Linux; that's the beauty of standards, and of cross-platform code. I don't have to run your OS, and you don't have to run mine, and we can use the same applications anyway!"
- Jamie Zawinski
(Related: Beauty, Linux, Software)

"See, unlike most hackers, I get little joy out of figuring out how to install the latest toy."
- Jamie Zawinski
(Related: Joy)

"Using these toolkits is like trying to make a bookshelf out of mashed potatoes."
- Jamie Zawinski
(Related: Trying)

"Why should someone have to retrain themselves to use a new application that does the same basic thing as the old application, just because something as trivial as the operating system changed out from under them?"
- Jamie Zawinski
(Related: Old)

"On the other hand, there would be some value in different folks getting together to share expertise and technology; but to the listener, it wouldn't necessarily seem like a single station in the traditional sense."
- Jamie Zawinski
(Related: Technology, Expertise, Sense, Value)

"If you give a hacker a new toy, the first thing he'll do is take it apart to figure out how it works."
- Jamie Zawinski
(Related: First)