[from {Usenet}, but may predate it; common] n. {flame war}s over
{religious issues}. The paper by Danny Cohen that popularized the
terms {big-endian} and {little-endian} in connection with the
LSB-first/MSB-first controversy was entitled On Holy Wars and a Plea
for Peace.
Great holy wars of the past have included {ITS} vs.: {Unix}, {Unix}
vs.: {VMS}, {BSD} Unix vs.: System V, {C} vs.: {Pascal}, {C} vs.:
FORTRAN, etc. In the year 2003, popular favorites of the day are KDE
vs, GNOME, vim vs. elvis, Linux vs. [Free|Net|Open]BSD. Hardy
perennials include {EMACS} vs.: {vi}, my personal computer vs.:
everyone else's personal computer, ad nauseam. The characteristic
that distinguishes holy wars from normal technical disputes is that
in a holy war most of the participants spend their time trying to
pass off personal value choices and cultural attachments as objective
technical evaluations. This happens precisely because in a true holy
war, the actual substantive differences between the sides are
relatively minor. See also {theology}.
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {All hardware sucks, all software sucks.}{Amiga Persecution Complex}{cat}{COME FROM}{elevator controller}{indent style}{ITS}{neats vs. scruffies}{real operating system}{religious issues}{Turing tar-pit}{vi}]