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Comment by anigbrowl | Hacker News Reader

I always find this phrase 'powered by...' a bit sad when used in relation to computer software. I'm pretty sure the ship is powered by a large diesel engine or a small nuclear reactor. It's managed or controlled by Linux...well, technically via Linux but that's beside the point. A trivial objection, but I don't care for my news reporting to read like a breathless press release complete with meaningless marketing-speak.

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But it's not actually Linux that's managing or controlling the ship. It's Linux that's managing or controlling the software that's actually managing or controlling the ship.

I mean, if we're getting into a semantic argument.

Ultimately, ship is being managed/controlled by humans, for the time being. But I take your point, this is why I mentioned 'via Linux'.

Yes, we can only really accurately say:

    "Linux is playing a role of some significance in the latest 
    ship for the US Navy."

That and Linux has actually been used by the US Navy for over a decade now. I guess "The Navy's Still Using Linux" isn't quite as catchy a title.

You could also argue the semantics that the ship is powered by its sailors. Without them, it's not going to go anywhere; it's their actions that are the root cause of moving the thing.

So what OS is the software that is controlling the ship?

It's powered by two Rolls-Royce gas turbines, actually.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Marine_Trent

I get your point, but that's just semantics. You go down on the list of definitions in Webster and you could find that "power" means exactly what the Title eludes.

I'm coming to the conclusion that when citing a dictionary or other reference work, the probability of an unforced language error in the same sentence asymptotically approaches 1.

I think semantic disputes in Internet discussions are slowly starting to overtake Godwin's law in terms of likelihood.

I would argue that it is the captain that is managing/controlling the ship.

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