Torquil MacCorkle, III declared on Wednesday 26 May 2004 12:04 am:
> > This comment means I will _NEVER_ make use of the VCM! I would
> > suggest you learn whas a 'hacker' is. People who commit DOS attacks,
> > etc are not hackers, they are criminals, pure and simple. A 'hacker'
> > is what I wish I was good enough to become. There are several web
> > sites that document this.
>
> A bit extreme, don't you think? You can talk about hackers vs.
> crackers till you are blue in the face, but the fact is that whatever
> 'hacker' is supposed to mean, it doesn't anymore. The media has
> changed it. To 98% of the population a hacker is someone, who
> maliciously breaks into computers. And there are several million
> newspaper/magazine/etc articles that document that.
Heh. How about this...
It means both! Two separate concepts covered by one word. I personally
use the term to refer to both. I don't understand why people get so
bent out of shape over this, it's not like it's the only English word
that has multiple definitions depending on context.
Hell, I could argue "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet",
even. Does it really matter what word we chose to represent each
concept?
Sorry for those of you annoyed by this kind of banter, it just annoys the
hell out of me when people get into/start this flamewar.
Pat
--
Purdue University ITAP/RCS --- http://www.itap.purdue.edu/rcs/
The Computer Refuge --- http://computer-refuge.org
Received on Wed May 26 2004 - 00:33:28 BST