>>>>> "A" == Alexander Viro <viro@math.psu.edu> writes:
A> As for the "greater social good" (or world domination, for that
A> matter) - excuse me, but quite a few of us couldn't care
A> less.
Thanks for the comment, and please don't feel guilty about it, it is a
perfectly valid reason for Linux. It is also what I suspected by
looking at the structure of the code: IMHO, Linux (ie the kernel) is
the _ultimate_ "user friendly" software product ... _iff_ you consider
the "users" as the programmers themselves. I know of no other piece of
software which gives its users such depth of community.
I also frequently see vetos and approvals on this list where the final
rationale is social rather than technical. There is no fault or evil
in this, and social reasons are important to ensuring the community
functions. Just so long as we all understand that this is the purpose
of Linux. In a very early interview (c.1993?), Linus gave a list of
requirements which begins with Linux being fun to work on for himself,
and then for other developers. For some, it is.
You might say Linux has succeeded because it is a 'playground' for
developers, a place where they _like_ to contribute and where there
are no project managers, marketing or QA people saying "you must do
this and that by next Tuesday".
This is perfectly fine. The playground atmosphere sets it apart from
its more staid and serious competition. Linux need not set out to rule
or save the world. It is a gift, and we can take it or leave it as we
wish.
But ... wouldn't we avoid a lot of these technical merit discussions
of this or that method or technique (kdb, reiserfs, &c) if we were
more open about its purpose?
-- Gary Lawrence Murphy <garym@linux.ca>: office voice/fax: 01 519 4222723 T(!c)Inc Business Innovation through Open Source http://www.teledyn.com M:I-3 - Documenting the Linux kernel: http://kernelbook.sourceforge.net "You don't play what you know; you play what you hear." --- Miles Davis - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Sep 15 2000 - 21:00:15 EST