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luser

luser

 

  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Jargon  File  (4.2.3,  23  NOV  2000)  [jargon]: 
 
  luser  /loo'zr/  n.  [common]  A  {user};  esp.  one  who  is  also  a 
  {loser}.  ({luser}  and  {loser}  are  pronounced  identically.)  This  word 
  was  coined  around  1975  at  MIT.  Under  ITS  when  you  first  walked  up  to 
  a  terminal  at  MIT  and  typed  Control-Z  to  get  the  computer's  attention, 
  it  printed  out  some  status  information,  including  how  many  people  were 
  already  using  the  computer;  it  might  print  "14  users",  for  example. 
  Someone  thought  it  would  be  a  great  joke  to  patch  the  system  to  print 
  "14  losers"  instead.  There  ensued  a  great  controversy,  as  some  of  the 
  users  didn't  particularly  want  to  be  called  losers  to  their  faces  every 
  time  they  used  the  computer.  For  a  while  several  hackers  struggled 
  covertly,  each  changing  the  message  behind  the  back  of  the  others  any 
  time  you  logged  into  the  computer  it  was  even  money  whether  it  would  say 
  users"  or  "losers".  Finally,  someone  tried  the  compromise  "lusers", 
  and  it  stuck.  Later  one  of  the  ITS  machines  supported  `luser'  as  a 
  request-for-help  command.  ITS  died  the  death  in  mid-1990,  except  as  a 
  museum  piece;  the  usage  lives  on  however,  and  the  term  `luser'  is  often 
  seen  in  program  comments  and  on  Usenet.  Compare  {mundane},  {muggle}. 
 
  =  M  =  ===== 
 
 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  luser 
 
    /loo'zr/  A  {user};  especially  one  who  is  also 
  a  {loser}.  ({luser}  and  {loser}  are  pronounced  identically.) 
  This  word  was  coined  around  1975  at  {MIT}. 
 
  Under  {ITS},  when  you  first  walked  up  to  a  terminal  at  MIT  and 
  typed  Control-Z  to  get  the  computer's  attention,  it  printed 
  out  some  status  information,  including  how  many  people  were 
  already  using  the  computer;  it  might  print  "14  users",  for 
  example.  Someone  thought  it  would  be  a  great  joke  to  patch 
  the  system  to  print  "14  losers"  instead.  There  ensued  a  great 
  controversy,  as  some  of  the  users  didn't  particularly  want  to 
  be  called  losers  to  their  faces  every  time  they  used  the 
  computer.  For  a  while  several  hackers  struggled  covertly, 
  each  changing  the  message  behind  the  back  of  the  others  any 
  time  you  logged  into  the  computer  it  was  even  money  whether  it 
  would  say  users"  or  "losers".  Finally,  someone  tried  the 
  compromise  "lusers",  and  it  stuck. 
 
  Later  one  of  the  ITS  machines  supported  luser"  as  a 
  request-for-help  command.  ITS  died  the  death  in  mid-1990, 
  except  as  a  museum  piece;  the  usage  lives  on  however,  and  the 
  term  luser"  is  often  seen  in  program  comments. 
 
  See:  also  {LART}.  Compare:  {tourist},  {weenie}. 
 
  [{Jargon  File}] 
 
  (1998-07-01)