From: jweigand@astro.ocis.temple.edu (James R. Wiegand) Subject: Re: The best way to "support Linux"! Date: 28 Mar 1993 20:55:15 GMT
In article <RLM.93Mar22203419@helen.helen.surfcty.com> rlm@helen.helen.surfcty.com (Robert L. McMillin) writes:
>In article <1993Mar22.073330.29968@cronkite.ocis.temple.edu> jwiegand@moe.eng.temple.edu (James Wiegand) writes:
>> Sorry to do this publicly, folks,
>
>No you're not...
This is a public newsgroup, is it not?
>
>> but I must point out ED has an egregious
>> deficit of perspicacity.
>
>... snore ... you done yet?
I was trying to be sarcastic. Since the 0.12 days, I've been trying
to point out to USERS not to abuse the DEVELOPERS. Talk about
spiting the nose on your face.
>
>> Not only does he demonstrate publicly his lack
>> of foresight, but he also attempts to demean those who do. The phenomena
>> of linux, which I call cooperative development, is the wave of the future.
>> Its participants form a quality circle of truly international
>> circumference. Those on the outside only serve to make themselves more
>> noticeable in their exclusion.
>
>Blah, blah, blah. Fifty dollar words won't make up for the fact that
>Linux is no more than a very good hobbyist Unix.
Yes, it is very good. There is already one large commercial installation
using Linux that I know of, and probably many more that I don't know of.
Don't forget that personal computers started out as a hobby thing.
Remember the Altair, that kit you had to solder together yourself?
That was the first PC. Now you have IBM ditching mainframes because
of pressure from 'downsizing' = PC competition.
> Neither SCO nor
>Univel are particularly worried by Linux. They haven't any reason to
>be. If you have the time and knowledge to hack Linux to make it go,
>fine.
SCO and AT&T have never worried about the opinions of their customers.
They do what they please with their products, and improve and fix
their operating systems as they see fit to do so. At least linux users
have the opportunity to fix what they find wrong. This happens
quite often, and does not require a degree in CS- merely an open
and observant mind.
>If not, you're hosed -- or you get to pay somebody else to do
>it for you, and big bucks, too, since Linux is an odd system with
>spotty, contradictory, and often wrong documentation.
The documentation is bad. That's why people are working on it.
As for being odd, I take it you have not experience with AIX or EP/IX,
which suffer from the same problems- odd behavior, and downright
confusing docs.
>In simple terms, nobody's really accountable. If, for instance, GNU
>emacs' sendmail function is broken in the SLS distribution (which it
>is), *I* the end user have to figure this out and fix it. Who fixes
>this if I can't?
What you are saying is that you are the one accountable. If you join a
model aircraft club, and build a plane from a kit, and it doesn't
run, you've got to fix it. And maybe you can tell everyone else in
your club how to fix it, and the problem is solved. You move on.
>The answer I get from the net is "Don't complain,
>somebody is doing this to be nice." Well, that's not good enough if
>I'm supposed to make my livelihood with Linux. It's one thing to have
>low levels of accountability in an essentially voluntary organization,
>and quite another when money's at stake.
The people on the net are working on linux quite simply because THEY
get something out of it. If you want to make money off of linux,
nobody is stopping you. In fact, you could probably end up with your
own following.
The level of accountability is commensurate with your level of involvement.
People who have a lot of time (=money) invested in linux tend to act
responsibly, like Ted, HJ, and of course Linus. There is a lot of money
tied up in providing net access, disk space, and packaging. These
folks participate in the best way they know how, and if you don't go
along with them, that's on you.
>And as for foresight: even Mr. Stallman has discovered that the long
>green goes a long way in getting people to do work. Cooperative
>development my eye -- I want a paycheck!
Richard Stallman has always asked for support for the FSF, mostly
through the sale of GNU tapes and documentation. That does not
stop people from contributing to the GNU project even without
monetary compensation. The compensation contributors get is the
addition of value to their own systems. Not to mention having their
name on the sources so users come to know them. These are intangible
assets, but ones with a definate value.
>---
>
>Robert L. McMillin | Surf City Software | rlm@helen.surfcty.com | Dude!
Thank you for your posting. Replying has brought many interesting ideas
into focus.
jim