5 ms·

One of the earlier releases (when they would send you free CD's) got flack for people in their underwear https://www.zdnet.com/article/canonical-turns-20-shapi

One of the earlier releases (when they would send you free CD's) got flack for people in their underwear https://www.zdnet.com/article/canonical-turns-20-shaping-the-ubuntu-linux-world/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/canonical-turns-20-shaping-the...

DonHopkins 1mo ago
I'll see your CD cover with three people in their underwear, plus a hologram of the top half of a possibly naked baby on the Microsoft Windows box, and raise you the top half of several naked SGI "Skinny Hackers" in a projected texture map illustration of an ACM publication: "Fast Shadows and Lighting Effects Using Texture Mapping", by Mark Segal, Carl Korobkin, Rolf van Widenfelt, Jim Foran, Paul Haeberli, Silicon Graphics Computer Systems. Computer Graphics, 26,2, July 1992, Page 252, Figure 3: Simulating a Slide Projector: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34129571 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34129571 "Yes, we have a dress code. You have to dress." – Scott McNealy On the other hand, down the road at SGI there was a practice called "Skinnyhacking"! https://rdtk.net/internet/how-do-you-check-a-computer-s-complete-history/ https://rdtk.net/internet/how-do-you-check-a-computer-s-comp... >Snowsinger. November 21, 2020 at 07:48. >A truly excellent review of the history of Silicon Graphics. I worked in the Australian Sales office as their 1st engineer in the Asia Pacific region. Was trained in MtView the 1st week the MtView campus opened. The 1st system I worked on was the IRIS 1000 and subsequently all the products from then on till I left in mid-2009 when the Australian Engineering division was shut. A great company with great people who just wanted to engineer the best Graphics experience on the planet until we lost focus and vision of what we did well. Brings to Mind the Skinny Hackers, the Rocktain event, PCP monitoring, CXFS (Clustered File Systems), Failsafe, Diskless boot, Voxel vision, and so many other engineering wins. A great company, great people, & the drive to make a better computing world. Thank you for the memories and documenting the history of a company that did make some huge breakthroughs in Computer Graphics & Computing architecture. Just go ask NVIDIA, Cray and now HP!! Also a shout out to Jim Clark & his team for the vision and determination to bring the Graphics Engine to world, the heart of the IRIS workstation and subsequent graphics systems. https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.sgi.misc/c/X50cCoYrU20/m/kXZ5LwSWk3sJ https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.sgi.misc/c/X50cCoYrU20/... >Tom Davis, Mar 22, 1993, 6:06:21 PM, comp.sys.sgi.misc >In article <gom...@zola.esd.sgi.com>, ol...@anchor.esd.sgi.com (Dave Olson) writes: |> In <112...@bu.edu> j...@bu-pub.bu.edu (Jason Heirtzler) writes: |> | Okay, I gotta know. Whom does the phrase "The Skinny Hackers" refer to? |> A small group of (fairly skinny ;) ) folks who are also great hackers/developers and mostly long time SGI employees. Among other fruits of their group hackerdom was the original showcase. >Being skinny didn't have anything to do with it. Although Showcase was the best known product of the skinnyhackers, the first product was an image of them made from a photo of all three sitting naked at computer terminals, busily hacking. On top of the photo was the international "no" symbol (red circle with a line across it), and underneath, the words "No Skinnyhacking". >Note: Skinnyhacking is a dangerous activity, and should only be performed by professionals. Do NOT attempt it at home. >If you're interested, you can see the image in the most recent (1992) SIGGRAPH proceedings, in distored form on the back cover, and in non-distored form on page 252. >I can't imagine that anyone would want a copy of this image, but I have one in SGI format. (Actually, the secret goal is to have this image overtake the mandrill in popularity.) |> I won't speak further to protect their secret identities ;) >I will! It was me! Tom Davis! The bald guy in the front! Oh, and the other two are Rocky Rhodes and Scott Carr. Ann Sydeman joined the group a short time later, but unfortunately missed the initial photo session (although there was a subsequent video ...). Paul Haeberli was the photographer. [Fortunately I found a pdf of the paper with the image:] "Fast Shadows and Lighting Effects Using Texture Mapping", by Mark Segal, Carl Korobkin, Rolf van Widenfelt, Jim Foran, Paul Haeberli, Silicon Graphics Computer Systems. Computer Graphics, 26,2, July 1992, Page 252, Figure 3: Simulating a Slide Projector: https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/133994.134071 https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/133994.134071
Jenk 1mo ago
Well, the Ubuntu logo has suddenly clicked. How did I not see it before?!
- lukan 1mo ago
  Thanks for your comment, otherwise it still would not have clicked for me ..
- goodmythical 1mo ago
  Makes sense with the whole "Ubuntu is sometimes translated as "I am because we are" thing as well
butlike 1mo ago
Dang, I have a box of those somewhere. You could just order, for free (and shipping iirc), BOXES of however many you wanted.
karolinepauls 1mo ago
This is completely off topic but I'm shocked that zdnet autoplayed a video with audio on after I opened the page and scrolled down a little. Incredible that we still have websites whose primary purpose isn't playing audio automatically play audio. There's no way this doesn't annoy a vast majority of users. This phenomenon terrifies me greatly - how large organisations can be ignorant of the basics of their purpose. I believe it is one and the same mechanism of collective incompetence, which can affect both a media company, a school, or a government. It's as if the humanity, under any system, were bound to create inhospitable conditions for one another.
- kevin_thibedeau 1mo ago
  You can use a browser from a non-ad company that lets you block auto-played A/V.
- Timwi 1mo ago
  Companies are not “ignorant of the basics of their purpose”. The basics of their purpose is to make money and increase value for shareholders. There is nothing in their core purpose that benefits you as a user or that says they shouldn't annoy you.
  - karolinepauls 1mo ago
    I am aware that the purpose of an overwhelming majority of companies is to earn money. Does auto-playing their own video with audio increase revenue? It's not an ad someone is paying for.

DonHopkins 1mo ago

I'll see your CD cover with three people in their underwear, plus a hologram of the top half of a possibly naked baby on the Microsoft Windows box, and raise you the top half of several naked SGI "Skinny Hackers" in a projected texture map illustration of an ACM publication: "Fast Shadows and Lighting Effects Using Texture Mapping", by Mark Segal, Carl Korobkin, Rolf van Widenfelt, Jim Foran, Paul Haeberli, Silicon Graphics Computer Systems. Computer Graphics, 26,2, July 1992, Page 252, Figure 3: Simulating a Slide Projector: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34129571 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34129571 "Yes, we have a dress code. You have to dress." – Scott McNealy On the other hand, down the road at SGI there was a practice called "Skinnyhacking"! https://rdtk.net/internet/how-do-you-check-a-computer-s-complete-history/ https://rdtk.net/internet/how-do-you-check-a-computer-s-comp... >Snowsinger. November 21, 2020 at 07:48. >A truly excellent review of the history of Silicon Graphics. I worked in the Australian Sales office as their 1st engineer in the Asia Pacific region. Was trained in MtView the 1st week the MtView campus opened. The 1st system I worked on was the IRIS 1000 and subsequently all the products from then on till I left in mid-2009 when the Australian Engineering division was shut. A great company with great people who just wanted to engineer the best Graphics experience on the planet until we lost focus and vision of what we did well. Brings to Mind the Skinny Hackers, the Rocktain event, PCP monitoring, CXFS (Clustered File Systems), Failsafe, Diskless boot, Voxel vision, and so many other engineering wins. A great company, great people, & the drive to make a better computing world. Thank you for the memories and documenting the history of a company that did make some huge breakthroughs in Computer Graphics & Computing architecture. Just go ask NVIDIA, Cray and now HP!! Also a shout out to Jim Clark & his team for the vision and determination to bring the Graphics Engine to world, the heart of the IRIS workstation and subsequent graphics systems. https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.sgi.misc/c/X50cCoYrU20/m/kXZ5LwSWk3sJ https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.sgi.misc/c/X50cCoYrU20/... >Tom Davis, Mar 22, 1993, 6:06:21 PM, comp.sys.sgi.misc >In article <gom...@zola.esd.sgi.com>, ol...@anchor.esd.sgi.com (Dave Olson) writes: |> In <112...@bu.edu> j...@bu-pub.bu.edu (Jason Heirtzler) writes: |> | Okay, I gotta know. Whom does the phrase "The Skinny Hackers" refer to? |> A small group of (fairly skinny ;) ) folks who are also great hackers/developers and mostly long time SGI employees. Among other fruits of their group hackerdom was the original showcase. >Being skinny didn't have anything to do with it. Although Showcase was the best known product of the skinnyhackers, the first product was an image of them made from a photo of all three sitting naked at computer terminals, busily hacking. On top of the photo was the international "no" symbol (red circle with a line across it), and underneath, the words "No Skinnyhacking". >Note: Skinnyhacking is a dangerous activity, and should only be performed by professionals. Do NOT attempt it at home. >If you're interested, you can see the image in the most recent (1992) SIGGRAPH proceedings, in distored form on the back cover, and in non-distored form on page 252. >I can't imagine that anyone would want a copy of this image, but I have one in SGI format. (Actually, the secret goal is to have this image overtake the mandrill in popularity.) |> I won't speak further to protect their secret identities ;) >I will! It was me! Tom Davis! The bald guy in the front! Oh, and the other two are Rocky Rhodes and Scott Carr. Ann Sydeman joined the group a short time later, but unfortunately missed the initial photo session (although there was a subsequent video ...). Paul Haeberli was the photographer. [Fortunately I found a pdf of the paper with the image:] "Fast Shadows and Lighting Effects Using Texture Mapping", by Mark Segal, Carl Korobkin, Rolf van Widenfelt, Jim Foran, Paul Haeberli, Silicon Graphics Computer Systems. Computer Graphics, 26,2, July 1992, Page 252, Figure 3: Simulating a Slide Projector: https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/133994.134071 https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/133994.134071

Jenk 1mo ago

Well, the Ubuntu logo has suddenly clicked. How did I not see it before?!

lukan 1mo ago
Thanks for your comment, otherwise it still would not have clicked for me ..
goodmythical 1mo ago
Makes sense with the whole "Ubuntu is sometimes translated as "I am because we are" thing as well

butlike 1mo ago

Dang, I have a box of those somewhere. You could just order, for free (and shipping iirc), BOXES of however many you wanted.

karolinepauls 1mo ago

This is completely off topic but I'm shocked that zdnet autoplayed a video with audio on after I opened the page and scrolled down a little. Incredible that we still have websites whose primary purpose isn't playing audio automatically play audio. There's no way this doesn't annoy a vast majority of users. This phenomenon terrifies me greatly - how large organisations can be ignorant of the basics of their purpose. I believe it is one and the same mechanism of collective incompetence, which can affect both a media company, a school, or a government. It's as if the humanity, under any system, were bound to create inhospitable conditions for one another.

kevin_thibedeau 1mo ago
You can use a browser from a non-ad company that lets you block auto-played A/V.
Timwi 1mo ago
Companies are not “ignorant of the basics of their purpose”. The basics of their purpose is to make money and increase value for shareholders. There is nothing in their core purpose that benefits you as a user or that says they shouldn't annoy you.
- karolinepauls 1mo ago
  I am aware that the purpose of an overwhelming majority of companies is to earn money. Does auto-playing their own video with audio increase revenue? It's not an ad someone is paying for.