Ask HN: Why no black bar for John McAfee?
Sure he was a bit of a nut and perhaps a criminal but it's hard to dispute his contributions to the field.
16 comments
What were his contributions, exactly? He's been an entertainer for the last decade, before that you've got to go back some ways before he contributed... And that contribution, while personally valuable to me (and others), is of arguable social value: There's no denying the early antivirus business drove the early virus business to the point of mostly being the same people.
I made money using McAfee's product for others, and so did many others. But he gave us that opportunity through selling fear, and that was not a good thing for greater society.
I made money using McAfee's product for others, and so did many others. But he gave us that opportunity through selling fear, and that was not a good thing for greater society.
It's not clear to me that "anti-virus" was a contribution.
For years the only anti-virus product that wasn't worse than the virus was Kaspersky and since things went south with Russia that's been indefensible.
For years the only anti-virus product that wasn't worse than the virus was Kaspersky and since things went south with Russia that's been indefensible.
Is that really a serious question? He wouldn’t be notable if not for those aspects of him that involve being “eccentric” or whatever you want to call it. A lot of software people take a dim view of anti-virus software.
Some misanthropes get inspired by his general lack of giving a fuck, but I personally do not think we should look up to the man.
He did no good and possibly quite a bit of evil.