Save energy. Save money. THDTux the penguin waddles to last place in Indy 500; Joost fares better
The 'Tux car' during a qualifying round.
(Credit: Indianapolis Motor Speedway)When the pale blue "Linux car," also known as car #77 from Chastain Motorsports, was the first car to crash in the 91st Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, we can imagine hordes of geeks wishing it had been a "Vista car" instead. Imagine the "blue screen of death" jokes that could have resulted!
The Linux car, as you probably know already, was the result of a campaign called Tux 500, jump-started by two enthusiasts named Bob Moore and Ken Starks. They solicited donations from fellow Linux fans in a "community powered Linux marketing program" to make the open-source operating system a household name by putting its logo on a race car. Unfortunately, it's likely going to be remembered as "the car that placed last."
The race fared better for the "Joost car," car #2 from Vision Racing. While we've heard from more than a few beta testers who say Joost's downloadable software has a tendency to crash on occasion, that didn't happen for the Joost-branded car in the Indy 500, which ended up placing seventh. Mashable speculates that the car may have been a result of the deal between the peer-to-peer video start-up and Indy 500 parent organization IndyCar Series. There's an IndyCar branded channel on Joost, which features footage from Sunday's race (tip: use plenty of slow-mo and pausing when Marco Andretti's car bites it) as well as from all Indy 500 races dating back to 1990.
I'll take Corny over Cheesy every other day of the week