"Linux car" first to crash at Indianapolis 500

Linux fans didn't exactly get the publicity they were hoping for at the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, when the so-called "Linux car" they had sponsored proved to be the first in the race to crash, ultimately causing it to finish dead last. The car was the result of the Tux 500 campaign, which raised enough money to put the familiar Tux mascot front and center on Chastain Motorsports' #77 car in the hope that it'd raise the profile of the OS. Faring considerably better in the publicity department was Joost, which sponsored the car that wound up finishing a respectable seventh. Maybe next time the Linux folks should work on making the whole car open source.

[dorseto @ May 29th 2007 12:23PM]

HAHAHHAHAHAHHAhahhahahhahahahhahahhahahahahhahahahhahaaaaa...........!

[dudeInAmerica @ May 29th 2007 12:26PM]

A crash eh? Sounds like an incorrect driver install issue.

kill -9

[Preston @ May 29th 2007 12:33PM]

Agreed, definitely a driver issue, lol.

[paloooz @ May 29th 2007 12:29PM]

Obviously this is an example of Linux inferiority ... or not.

[Blake @ May 29th 2007 12:33PM]

My God at the irony....

[paloooz @ May 29th 2007 1:26PM]

Lowest ranked? Wow, the MS trolls are must be having a heyday.

[gibber9583 @ May 29th 2007 12:38PM]

You neglected to mention that the Windows car didnt show up because it was in jail for a DUI. While the Apple car was unable to attend because it was at its Art School final

[BHSPitMonkey @ May 29th 2007 6:19PM]

So, Windows is too locked down, Apple doesn't give you the time of day, and linux has the occasional instability issue.

This is almost as accurate of a practical analogy as the old "If Cars Were Like OS's" jokes.
http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~jylee/jokes.html#OS%20Cars

[KC @ May 29th 2007 12:41PM]

The driver couldn't figure out the interface and crashed the car?

[o0adam0o @ May 29th 2007 2:40PM]

Aaaaaaaaahahahhahahhahaha!...just proves Linux sucks!

JK ;)

[Otsego_Undead @ May 29th 2007 12:52PM]

whos bright idea was this? obviously linux geeks with no marketing experience.. im pretty sure the indy 500 is NOT the target demographic if not the furthest... try wooing schools to teach kids linux... sheesh. there's my open source contribution. no charge.

[nova @ May 29th 2007 12:52PM]

oh come on todd. its a joke.

[Manuel @ May 29th 2007 12:53PM]

[off topic] Todd, If you dont like it, LEAVE !

The car was on a crash course?

[Allan @ May 29th 2007 12:57PM]

Here's a video of the crash:
http://www.indycar.com/multimedia/videos/player.php?v=619

[Matt E. @ May 29th 2007 12:56PM]

M$/Windows fanboys take it however they can get it. How's that Vista going? I hear it's flying off the shelves...well it's not really selling at all, is it? :-(

[Dp462090 @ May 29th 2007 12:56PM]

It's a joke, lighten up.

[Constable Odo @ May 29th 2007 12:58PM]

I believe the winner was listening to his iPod at the end of the race. That wonderful device allowed him to relax and win.

[Brad @ May 29th 2007 12:59PM]

Wow- a full post on Engadget (a blog which is exactly their target audience) with a picture of the car....something tells me this worked out ok for them. I doubt any of us would have known about this if they finished in the middle of the pack.

[Josh L. @ May 29th 2007 8:56PM]

You know what they SHOULD teach school kids... In schools no less! The dangers of (and read this with a big echoey voice) INSTALLATION ANXIETY... Installation Anxiety is becoming a very real problem in todays, open source communities. In fact, here is a short educational video. It isnt in black and white, and there is no little reel countdown or anything like that, but it would have to do...(stupid high tech nerds and their color camcorders...)

http://www.loading-ready-run.com/videos/view/201/Installation+Anxiety

P.S.
Yes, I am aware linux was not ON the car. This is a joke, youre too serious.
Also, do to browser craptacularity (WTF, its Firefox!) I had to type the link, so sorry if it doesnt work. It should be on the homepage of that site anyway.

[Ayle @ May 29th 2007 3:05PM]

Funny vid ^_^

[Mordiceius @ May 29th 2007 1:29PM]

PEBSWAS - Problem exists between steering wheel and seat?

[Steve @ May 29th 2007 1:11PM]

The car was obviously still in beta. Someone should file a bug report if it crashed.

[Mordiceius @ May 29th 2007 5:15PM]

Was the car open source?

[Rick Lobrecht @ May 29th 2007 1:15PM]

Someone should have clued in the announcers. Most people (read not geeks) seeing a cartoon penguin these days, probably thought of Surf's Up (new cartoon movie coming out next month, featuring penguins.)

[zelik @ May 29th 2007 1:22PM]

Perhaps the crash was intentional, got more screen time and look, PR (albeit not in a positive sense). I bet links to this event are being forwarded left and right inside Microsoft's exchange server networks.

But like they say: Any publicity is good publicity.

[nate @ May 29th 2007 1:24PM]

youll probably read on some linux forum somewhere about how stupid the driver was for doing what ever he did. linux doesnt crash, unless someone uses it.

[paloooz @ May 29th 2007 1:48PM]

Wow, the M$ trolls ARE having a heyday!

[Karim @ May 29th 2007 1:27PM]

"Linux car" first to crash at Indianapolis 500

this will be reported on Slashdot as

"Linux car" first at Indy 500

[Lattyware @ May 29th 2007 1:40PM]

The funny thing is, what gives Linux more publicity? Big crash first or ends in 7th?

[Karim @ May 29th 2007 1:57PM]

> The funny thing is, what gives Linux more
> publicity? Big crash first or ends in 7th?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dilemma

Funny how "wins race," "sets new speed record" etc. were not options. :-)

Still, you have a point about publicity. Why, hardly anyone in this country knew the name of "Hindenburg" prior to May 1937. LOL

It's such GOOD publicity, maybe they can use the crash footage in Linux marketing. "Linux! [tire screeeeech] [WHAMMM!!!]"

[brianjones @ May 29th 2007 4:56PM]

I have only ever watched this stupid sport just so I could see fiery crashes....even if they took out a 100 spectators or so. Like most sports there is way too much money involved, it would have been nice to see the Linux funds directed elsewhere.

[Geir E @ May 29th 2007 1:44PM]

Let me see. Had it come 4-7 or something few would have remembered. By smashing into thge wall everybody that reads techmags get to hear about it. People can joke, but most with the knowledge about the irony behind. One of the most stable os'es in the world was on the most unstable adspace it could be.

[Jon Acheson @ May 29th 2007 1:48PM]

Next year they're hoping to crash it again to see if they can duplicate the error.

[Evan @ May 29th 2007 1:58PM]

Why do you assume the jokes are by "M$ trolls"? Lighten up, and learn to poke fun at yourself!

[polyGeek @ May 29th 2007 2:08PM]

No such thing as bad publicity. Short of winning the race this was the best outcome they could have hoped for.

[Vexorg @ May 29th 2007 2:15PM]

Officially, the car didn't crash, it merely exprrienced a kernel panic in turn 3.

[Thomas T. @ May 29th 2007 2:20PM]

For all the upset posters...

It's life, deal with it. You go to Slashdot and you're gonna get an anti MS/Conservative/etc. forum base. You go to Bink.nu and you're gonna get an anti Apple/*nix/etc. forum base. You come here and pretty much everything's a target.

Everyone doesn't have to agree with you, me or the site it's posted on. We're all "fanboys" over something. Roll with the punches and just move along on to the next post.

[Neebs @ May 29th 2007 2:26PM]

Wow, and I laughed at that the AMD car had a wheel fall off and roll over a crew member...

[PeteCE @ May 29th 2007 2:49PM]

I was there in turn one when Roberto Moreno decided, independent of any interference, to stick the car into the wall. All I could think of was those poor, fervent Linux fans that had donated their hard earned money to watch their beloved Tux crash. It should be noted that I didn't hear the word Linux mentioned the entire day.

[Ignacio @ May 29th 2007 2:50PM]

Fake Steve has been tracking it ever since the fundraising campaign. I love the "Slashdot legal experts" angle in this post:
http://fakesteve.blogspot.com/2007/05/linux-car-finishes-dead-last-at-indy-we.html

btw: take this for what it is please - a joke :)

[usacomputertec @ May 29th 2007 3:59PM]

Well believe it or not we got the amount of publicity we wanted and this article just adds too it.

[Tim @ May 29th 2007 4:20PM]

Now, whenever a Linux error does appear, it'll be called a "Moreno".

[Scott Gentzen @ May 29th 2007 3:44PM]

Hi, I'm a PC. Hi, I'm a Mac. Hi, I'm Lin[crunch]

[Jeff Lewis @ May 29th 2007 3:58PM]

*literally rolls on the floor laughing so hard he can't breathe*

Great now my coworkers think I've lost it again.. :)

The irony... the irony... :)

[Dedde` @ May 29th 2007 4:31PM]

4h4h4h4h4.

[Taiyoryu @ May 29th 2007 4:36PM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_Eg28gD1Jo

You can see Tux 32 seconds into the video.

[tomhung @ May 29th 2007 5:52PM]

Looks like a "Core Dump" to me. Whoops! Better get on that recompile!

[Daan @ May 30th 2007 5:47AM]

Everyone knows you shouldn't drive as root.

[Jennifer @ May 29th 2007 6:02PM]

How did the windows car do? I bet it didnt even run... ;)

[cristian4x4 @ May 30th 2007 2:12PM]

As well a it`s S.O. if it chash is just a 8th layer error