My curiosity is why do people really hate Zed? Is it because he says things that hit at the core of their insecurities? Or is it simple jealousy?
I honestly don't think it's because he's wrong.
The man is incredibly immature when he gets into those states. He ignores all evidence going against him, doesn't listen to his debaters, and proceeds as if everybody on the planet other than him is shit-filled. I think he's very bright but do wish he'd learn to act his age.
While you sit and fuss over his words and his public outbursts, I wonder what open source software you have written that has half the impact that his work has?
People's having done certain things doesn't exempt them from being judged. Did Zed stop from insulting DHH during his whole Rails rant? Because I'm pretty sure Rails is used more than anything Zed may have added on to it. I'm not blaming Zed for attacking DHH, but the whole "I did shit" defense is paltry and lame.
Is it because he says things that hit at the core of their insecurities? Or is it simple jealousy?
A lot of smug pricks like to use that word, "insecurities", as if every time somebody gets pissed off at them for being a blowhard it's due to insecurity. Myself, I don't write for open source, I'm not a huge fan of the open source community, I'm not much of a programmer at all. I just think he's a prick.
I may be a jealous person, but let's be honest, I'm jealous of people who are far more successful than Zed. He's a minor Internet celebrity at best. I reserve my jealousies for 37signals-level celebrities at the least.
Responding to multiple people with the snide "I guess I'm a smug prick" doesn't help things either.
It was smug of you to suggest that we didn't like Zed because of feelings of inferiority, but my response was not intended to be a personal insult in any way.
the problem zed brought up is one worth thinking about, and this convo revolves around his name and works as the example case, i see this a satire for the convo more than a satire of zed personally -- i don't know tho... but thats my reaction. i hope he laughs too - it is, in the end, poetically funny that it started with, i need some attention for what i do, and now him as open source maker is headlines for a week....(once again, because it's a convo worth having)...
EDIT: Sincerely - sorry. I get the sarcasm.
I usually can't stand people like that, but there are two reasons why I like him. First, if someone finds a bug in his code or shows (with proof) that he did something wrong, he takes it just as well as he gives it. And second, he actually writes some pretty damn good code.
I think we need more people like him. There are too many ex PHP turned Rails developers who assume just because they can deploy a decent web app that they know everything. Hell, some of Zed's most vocal disagreements have been about performance. Zed actually knows his stuff and can back up his point of view with statistics. Most Rails developers on the other hand have no idea about some of the computer science concepts needed to talk about performance in an informed way.
Zed's got a lot of public opinion against him. Just watch some of his keynotes to get a better idea of what he is actually like.
That's why it's called freedom. To some extent the drama is silly b/c there is a license for everyone... but that doesn't mean we shouldn't discuss the merits of various licenses.
His rants and software has had zero impact on me. I don't use Mongrel, Lamson, Rails or any of the shit he punts. Sorry, his rants have had more than zero impact on me. They've had +1 impact because I've had to put up with his rants being posted on HN and voted up by people.
Sorry if the above sounds harsh, but I don't really care about Zed. I don't see him as some contributor to open source stuff that I don't use. I see him as some guy that clogs up my RSS reader. That is all. He's no different to Mike Arrington from where I sit.