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

[Marius Andreiana <marius@xxxxxxxxx>]

An insightful comment. I also mentioned Mob Software ( see the article
references ) and say 
"We also have a natural selection process which will result in the best
   software in time. In a lot of time. This would be the best selection
   if all the software in the world would be Free, but it's not, and we
   are running out of time. 
"
I see conquering the desktop more as a necessity rather than a religious
thing.
Here in Romania I cannot access on-line banking or pay taxes on-line
because I don't have Internet Explorer. I cannot go to competition as
all banks imposed this limit and the government has no competitor.

The natural evolution of Open Source Software would be accelerated with
more code sharing ( not forking ), at least until a critical mass would
be achieved so OSS comunity won't be ignored anymore by webmasters and
hardware makers. Convincing the developers to do so it's not possible
though, as they do it for fun.

On Lu, 2003-04-07 at 03:47, mkraus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> 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
> -- 
> SLUG - Sydney Linux User Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
> More Info: http://lists.slug.org.au/listinfo/slug-chat
-- 
Marius Andreiana
Soluţii informatice bazate pe Linux / Linux-based IT solutions
www.galuna.ro