"Trying to learn to hack on a Microsoft Windows machine or under any other closed-source system is like trying to learn to dance while wearing a body cast."
Total fucking bullshit.
Total fucking bullshit.
You need platform source code access if you're doing low-level integration work, which is precisely what you don't do as a beginner.
Windows isn't the best platform for writing software but it's just fine. Python and Emacs work on it just fine, as do MySQL and other important software. Categorically asserting you can't learn how to structure code without having access to terabytes of C code is total fucking bullshit which is why I stand by the original statement.
As an aside: although my integration work is "low-level", I do not get the opportunity to make changes or additions to the shipping VS bits. I can only file bugs and plead my case. I can't call secret APIs, nor do I gain any special powers other than the weight an @microsoft.com email address carries. I'm developing against the closed platform as all our partners, and non-partner customers.
The statement doesn't just apply to software. Think about the Arduino. The project has gained a massive following and created a whole new legion of hardware hackers because it is easy to obtain (designs are open source and collaborative in nature) and there is a strong community behind it (probably as a result of it being open source).
Come on henning. You can make a point better than this - you have for a long time.
Learning how to use a system or code in a framework is possible with closed-source. You can even get some work done. But it can't be called hacking, because the aim of a hacker is to understand.
Say what you will about esr, but the body cast thing is more true than not.
Yeah, it's BS. It's the old "only people who do X can be in club Y" thing. But your comment would have been taken more seriously if you had backed it up with strong evidence.