[English version of the original german article, translated by Pauline Schwarze — thanks a lot!]
“Have a lot of fun” is the legendary hacker greeting. Having fun? Isn’t that the epitome of our meaningless and dump “fun culture” of comedy & Co? Not at all. The greeting refers to the motivation of committing oneself to a complex and self-imposed task – such as software development or other nice and useful things. Voluntariness in these things is of the essence. Wanting to commit to a self-imposed goal is the purpose as well as an end in itself.