Re: [chat] Re: The Linux Article Of The Year

[mkraus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Hi Marcel and all,

Matt does have a really good point on this one. The diversity of Linux and the fact there are a million and one code branches and projects is a longer-term strength rather than a weakness.

Whilst this does cause interim problems with standards adoption, long term it offers advantages. It opens up choice for implementation, and it also provides development in areas that one project may not forsee.

Having first hand watched the development of the like of Gnome, one can see the relationship this software has had with other, more experimental software such as enlightenment in addition to the role of others with longer history such as WindowMaker.

When software becomes too diverse in an area, such as what is being complained about now, people start to see their own duplication of effort and the formation of defacto standards starts to occur within distributions in that area.

The fact that there is a great duplication of effort in multiple areas leads to it becoming observerable, and as all the source code is available and freely reuseable, projects can identify these areas and create levels of interoperability and adoption. New larger projects evolve that encompass smaller projects and vice versa happen all the time.

To complain about a lack of standards and that everything should be in one particular way would be to destroy the foundation of much of the OpenSource/FreeSoftware movement achievements. The complaint that there isn't enough forward planning may be viewed offensively in light of the number of software projects that put a great deal of resources into forward planning. There is no one great big Open Source steering committee, just lots of players who band together to form one large community. All the players have their own views, opinions and philosophies. Where they differ doesn't divide them, its where they agree that bind them together into a community.

FWIW, the complaint this web page author makes are long standing criticisms of the OpenSource/FreeSoftware modus operandii - yet they continue to gain momentum and positive growth.

Part of the philosophy of this movement is self-involvement - if you see something that could be done better make suggestions, contribute to the project. Don't know which one? - Choose the one you like the best and get involved.

Everyone has their right to their opinion - too much complaining, whilst venting your frustration doesn't really get the end result and may serve to create animosity.

All things being equal, things balance out... :)

All the best...

Mike
---
Michael S. E. Kraus
Administration
Capital Holdings Group (NSW) Pty Ltd
p: (02) 9955 8000

"Marcel Kunath" <kunathma@xxxxxxx> Sent by: slug-chat-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx 05/04/2003 11:39 AM

To:        mlh@xxxxxxxxxx         cc:        slug-chat@xxxxxxxxxxx, marius@xxxxxxxxx         Subject:        [chat] Re: The Linux Article Of The Year

mlh@xxxxxxxxxx writes: 

> 
> Shrug.  That's a feature of freedom.  I don't see
> what the problem is.  If you don't like it don't use
> it.  I don't care if there's a 3 million linux distributions.
> I'll only use 3 or 4. 
> 
> The only way it "improve" the situation is
>   1. code it yourself
>   2. pay someone to do so 
> 
> Otherwise you have no say in what people do. 
> 
> And that's the way it should be. 
> 
> Regards,
> Matt
> -- 
> SLUG - Sydney Linux User Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
> More Info: http://lists.slug.org.au/listinfo/slug-chat
 

My point wasn't about that I dislike the distributions. My point was about 
the waste of human resources. I don't want to tell people to stop developing 
software because their code is crap. I didn't say their code is crap. I 
dislike the dis-array within the development community and lack of forward 
thinking/planning. 

I want people to realize that (in most cases) it is more efficient to join a 
project already under way or reuse code than create another "new" 
implementation/branch/fork/re-batched distro which does the same thing in 
different fashion but no more efficient manner. 

We realized this with certain things like the kernel, apache, mysql, 
postgres. They are established. Anybody who develops a new project in this 
regard (a new kernel, new web server, new database engine) better have one 
damn good NEW idea (apache 2 vs apache 1.x, gecko vs. netscape 4.x, xfree86 
vs. ???) or should not venture out onto a fork. 

CD based distros were a new thing just two years ago. SuSE started the idea 
(AFAIK with their live eval edition). Then Knoppix came and pretty much owns 
the market in terms of "run Linux from CD". Now we got duplication of 
efforts like Freeduc which take Knoppix and make some alterations and put 
the Freeduc name on it. A waste of human resource. The Freeduc people should 
have fed their input towards the improvement of Knoppix instead. This allows 
the community to get the most out of the human capital and the developers 
still create the product and have the ability to learn and apply their 
programming/development skills. 

mk
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