[1] : Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001)

holy wars n. from usenet, but may predate it; common n. flame
   wars 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 2000, popular favorites of the day are kde vs,
   gnome, vim vs. elvis, linux vs. free|net|openbsd. 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.


see also:
usenet flame war religious issues big-endian little-endian its 
unix vms bsd c pascal 
emacs vi theology 

[2] : The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)

holy wars
     
        usenet, but may predate it flame wars over religious
        issues.  the paper by danny cohen that popularised the terms
        big-endian and little-endian was entitled "on holy wars
        and a plea for peace".  other perennial holy wars have
        included emacs vs. vi, my personal computer vs. everyone
        else's personal computer, its vs. unix, unix vs. vms,
        bsd unix vs. usg unix, c vs. pascal, c vs. fortran,
        etc., ad nauseam.  the characteristic that distinguishes holy
        wars from normal technical disputes is that in a holy wars
        most of the participants spend their time trying to pass off
        personal value choices and cultural attachments as objective
        technical evaluations.  see also theology.
     
        jargon file
     
     
see also:
usenet flame war religious issues big-endian little-endian emacs 
vi its unix vms bsd 
usg unix c pascal theology jargon file 

Holy Wars >> H Words
Holy Wars, definition of term: Holy Wars
holy+wars_pag1.html

Holy >> H Words
Holy, definition of term: Holy
holy_pag1.html

Holy See >> H Words
Holy See, definition of term: Holy See
holy+see_pag1.html

Holy Spirit >> H Words
Holy Spirit, definition of term: Holy Spirit
holy+spirit_pag1.html

Holy War >> H Words
Holy War, definition of term: Holy War
holy+war_pag1.html

Holy Water >> H Words
Holy Water, definition of term: Holy Water
holy+water_pag1.html

Holy Orders >> H Words
Holy Orders, definition of term: Holy Orders
holy+orders_pag1.html

Holy Trinity >> H Words
Holy Trinity, definition of term: Holy Trinity
holy+trinity_pag1.html

Holy Office >> H Words
Holy Office, definition of term: Holy Office
holy+office_pag1.html

Holy Family >> H Words
Holy Family, definition of term: Holy Family
holy+family_pag1.html

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