[ale] please bow your head for a moment of silence...

[Steve Litt]

On Thu, 7 Sep 2017 12:29:46 +0000
"Lightner, Jeffrey" <JLightner at dsservices.com> wrote:

> Caveman conversation:
> Ug:  What that?
> Zog:  Wheel.
> Ug:  Why wheel?  Drag work for years.
> Zog: More fast to use wheel.
> Ug: Wheel made by false god to trap draggers.  It bad.   
> Ug then clubs Zog because Zog doesn't see the intrinsic "reason" of
> Ug's opinion. 
> 
> 
> Move ahead 10,000 years:
> Ug:  What that?
> Zog:  Systemd.
> Ug: Why systemd.  Init work for years...
> 
> :p

Let us count the falacies:

* Appeal to novelty: Being new, in and of itself, doesn't make
  something better (or worse) than what came before.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_novelty

* Ad hominem: Painting as superstitious change-haters those who don't
  like systemd doesn't in any way prove systemd is good.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem

* False choice: Implying that the only alternative to systemd is
  "init" (I think he means sysvinit) is wrong. I know of at least five
  additional init systems that are excellent, and use one of them every
  day (runit). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dilemma

I'll give you this: The caveman analogy is funny, it's clever, and it
greatly appeals to those already on your side. But it actually says
nothing.

The real crackup is that these same falacies pop up in almost every
defense of systemd, starting with LP himself. Read PID EINS, you'll see
what I mean.

SteveT

Steve Litt
September 2017 featured book: Manager's Guide to Technical
Troubleshooting Brand new, second edition
http://www.troubleshooters.com/mgr