this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2023
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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240 million laptops stacked on top of each other is not going anywhere close to the moon, this is a masterclass in hyperbole.
If you assume they're all 13" wide laptops and stacked them on their side to get maximum height per unit, you'd still fall 305,752 km short of the average lunar distance. You normally only see this level of hyperbole in the estimated street value cops give for drugs they seize, pretty impressive.
I get the reason for hyperbole, I just hate when it’s so clickbaity. I wish they would just be more honest with us. If you assume they’re all small form factor Dell Optiplex 3070 desktops, you could make a cube of computers as tall as the Burj Khalifa.
And even if the 240 million laptops were all 24" ultra wide behemoths, that's still only ~146,304 km; not even half the average distance to the moon.
I wouldn't even call the article hyperbole, but if we take the author in good faith, then they're just terrible at math.