But what I *don't* understand is this unnecessary piece about ReiserFS. This story is about a mother of two children been murdered. And you have to whine about the outcome of a filesystem inside the news. How cynical!

would you use work of Charles Manson or maybe Hitler?

here is the proof in the pie. Enjoy eating it.

It seems similar to this term I keep hearing on Law and Order, "fruit of the poisoned tree". Evidence of a crime, no matter how conclusive of a defendant's guilt, is not admissible in a trial if it was obtained by illegal means.

As my teacher in Dutch Literature always used to say: "Most Dutch writers are assholes, but that doesn't discredit their contributions to the world of literature in any way."

At the end of 2004, as the divorce and custody proceedings get under way, Nina asks Reiser to stop playing violent videogames like Battlefield Vietnam with young Rory. In that game, napalm explosions envelop villages in fire, bodies are hurled through the air, and, when shot, characters collapse to the ground and choke on their own blood, realistic sound effects included. "Hans has a deeply held unreasonable belief that it is good to show children, no matter how young, violent videos and movies," Nina writes to the court. She wants him to stop.

For Reiser, this is not about videogames; it's about life and death. "Little boys take to violent computer games like monkeys take to trees," he says in a court filing. "[They] do not have instincts that favor combat rehearsal activities for no reason, they have them because they affect whether they live or die a significant amount of the time." Violent videogames are an ideal way to hone these survival skills, for several reasons, he says. A kid is clearly not going to become battle-hardened in the quiet, idyllic neighborhoods of the Oakland hills. Reiser believes that history â€" in, for instance, an Electronic Arts videogame set in Vietnam â€" is the best teacher, though he is quick to point out that the learning process will not necessarily be easy. "Becoming a man normally is psychologically traumatic for boys," he says. What matters most, he says, is that the exercise "allows him to achieve results in defending family and country."

Rory has nightmares. When he's awake, he spends time drawing monsters and soldiers, and he tells his mother that he and his father have a secret. Nina thinks that Reiser is still playing videogames with their son and worries that Rory is developing a condition called sensory integration dysfunction, which can make the smallest sound or touch overwhelming.

Reiser claims that Nina may be consulting with "memory creation specialists" in order to implant memories in Rory's mind. He insists that he never told Rory to hide the fact that they play Battlefield Vietnam together and is convinced that the specialist created this memory. "I am just lucky these memories only involve a computer game so far," Reiser writes to the court. "I don't want to find out that my child remembers being satanically sacrificed by me in a past life."

He also has a simple solution for Rory's nightmares: magical dynamite. "I explained to him that he could learn to fight the monsters in his dreams and blow them up with the magical dynamite," Reiser recounts. "I did this in terms that expressed a quiet confidence that he could handle the job.

"Note the similarities between how an effective army sergeant would rally frightened men to learn to attack the enemy and the technique I used to teach a small boy to deal with monsters in his dreams," Reiser adds. "One of the sad facts of dream life is that monsters who are lots of joy to blow up will start to leave one's dreams and not want to return."

Reiser says he has a right to blow up monsters, whether in dreams or videogames. The government â€" in the guise of family court â€" should have no place prohibiting him or his son from playing Battlefield Vietnam or Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic, a fantasy strategy game featuring elves, dwarves, zombies, and wizards. "Should the government be keeping me from showing my son how to direct brave goblin suicide bombers against their elven oppressors?" he asks.

The story of Nina Reiser, slain wife of eccentric file system programmer Hans Reiser, is a tragic one.

Now, I probably pushed it a little too far for a general audience by being so technical, but hey, I got to put my Latin/Greek education to use somewhere. Didn't spend all those useless hours studying for nothing.

You must judge according to the evidence you have at the time,not the evidence which might be discovered later.

I personally hope for this monsterous act he gets the death penalty.

As my teacher in Dutch Literature always used to say: "Most Dutch writers are assholes, but that doesn't discredit their contributions to the world of literature in any way."

What contributions?

It amazes me how anyone could defend someone like reiser.

Why all these comments along the lines of "I called this the first time I heard about it. Everybody who showed any doubt as to his guilt are complete morons".

The problem I see here is that we are talking about someone being murdered. If we do this, we should do it respectfully. Saying "there is news in the murder case. My opinion: please let the filesystem survive!" is just inappropriate.

"As my teacher in Dutch Literature always used to say: "Most Dutch writers are assholes, but that doesn't discredit their contributions to the world of literature in any way."

"[q]As my teacher in Dutch Literature always used to say: "Most Dutch writers are assholes, but that doesn't discredit their contributions to the world of literature in any way."

@Hakime
I am amazed to see so much stupidity.

I knew there'd be a lively discussion when I saw that one of the OSNews articles was about Hans Reiser. And I wasn't disappointed. Personally I think that until he actually shows them a body, his conviction is still unsafe and it is not 100% certain that he committed the crime. We aren't out of the woods yet on this one...

It was bad enough to see the idiocy a few months back by all these pathetic apologizers. I especially loved all the Euros that cried about the evils of the US justice system and how flawed it was (as opposed to Europe where a child raping murderer can get off in 5 years!).

All this viewpoint does is ensure that anyone who can figure out how to hide, destroy, or otherwise mutilate a body beyond recognition will get away with murder.

"I knew there'd be a lively discussion when I saw that one of the OSNews articles was about Hans Reiser. And I wasn't disappointed. Personally I think that until he actually shows them a body, his conviction is still unsafe and it is not 100% certain that he committed the crime. We aren't out of the woods yet on this one...

"[q]As my teacher in Dutch Literature always used to say: "Most Dutch writers are assholes, but that doesn't discredit their contributions to the world of literature in any way."

Who's defending Reiser? I am one of the ones who objected to this case in the past and I will do so again today. You will accuse me of blind devotion, but this is not the case. My only devotion is to things I know to be true. I don't know whether he did or did not kill his wife, nor do I care. His guilt or innocence is not important to me. What I do care about is the legal system in the USA, where I have lived all my life. This conviction is against the principles of the American justice system and should not have been handed down.

This is a case where the evidence was slim and circumstantial. Did he kill his wife? Let's say for the sake of argument that he did. Does this mean he should be convicted for it? The answer to that is *only if it can be proven* that he killed here. There was no proof, there was very little evidence, and so there is an objection to this by me. He should not have been convicted, guilty or not, with so little evidence.

would you use work of Charles Manson or maybe Hitler? Sure it's not really comparable but I do think you know what I'm thinking of. That said, it's hard to work with some stuff and forget about the person behind it. So the code isn't the murderer, but ...

Hitler was not an awful writer. The first part of mein kampf is actually quite enjoyable, and it gives insight to where his beliefs came from. You should spend and hour or two reading it.

The moral of the story is, if you murder someone GET RID OF THE BODY QUICK! Then claim that all other evidence is circumstantial because there is no body so it can't be murder.

... he has given them the indication that he knows where the body is? Or are they coming to him with a deal saying the only improvement you could even dream of getting is if you tell us where a body is? Just to be clear I read that article right.