[plug] re: Hacker Contest

[James Devenish]

In message <Pine.LNX.4.44.0307041554460.1683-100000 at BBRH73.busby.net>
on Fri, Jul 04, 2003 at 04:00:39PM +0800, Bret Busby wrote:
> confused by the use of the word "hacker", which I understand to
> be the name of the type of people that brought us Linux...

It's always hard to argue this one with most people. A bit like "doctor"
versus <insert other> or "lawyer" versus <insert other>. Since "hackers"
are a "superfamily" of users, "crackers" (or whatever you want to call
them) are certainly within that family. So it's sometimes hard to know
whether someone is confused or not. Then again, describing something as
having been "hacked" when you mean "cracked" is almost certainly
terrible usage. But "hack" (noun) is probably fair game with regards to
"good" and "bad" usage.