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SourceForge Code Release
Precision writes "SourceForge, the opensource hosting service provided by VA Linux, has announced the initial code release. You can grab a copy here." SourceForge rocks my world.
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But seriously, although opensource is cool and everything and the more of it around the better, how useful is this code release likely to be for people ? Not intended as a criticism, just genuine curiosity. It would seem to me that the usefulness of this site is in the resources offered rather than the code itself. But still ,kudos, good show to VA, definitely one of the companies that "get it"
-- Oh Well
With places like server51, sourceforge, xnot, and all their ilk, any dork who can type gcc can enter the world of program creation... This is a good thing. It gets people comfortable with software creation and the tools used.
Microsoft is one of the biggest software manufacturers there is. Their products cover EVERYTHING. Yet not much else than Visual Basic is readily accessible by the average computer enthusiast. Why would it not be in MS's best interest to flood the market with dirt cheap or free copies of VC++ and development kits for the younguns to play with? Or do they do this already? Just a thought.
-troll taker
Zdnet did a pretty good write up of SourceForge a couple weeks back or so.
P.S. To CmdrTaco - Here is a box. [] This box was donated by Ghostbusters, Inc, and comes complete with Enhanced(tm) SlashSource Troll containment fields. Place the box under such a troll, and activate, using the enclosed remote (-=). This will completely enclose the Troll in a Mk #5 Force Field, which can be released safely into any nuclear reactor core, for disposal.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Chris
--
Grant Chair, Linux Int.
Pres, SVLUG
Co-Editor, Open Sources
Open Source Program Manager, Google, Inc.
I just grabbed a copy for myself... Not like I'll probably do anything with it, but it's still nice to know that I can one day rummage through it and other OS projects, if for nothing else, educational value.
On the second note - Does VA build their own motherboards? Even if they did, I can't imagine that they'ed have enough volume to justify building PPC boards. Even with IBM releasing the specs for free. If you want LinuxPPC, go get a Mac.... But then you'll always get 2nd rate support than if you'd opted for an x86 system... I'm saying that, and I'm a Mac fan...
I know this is counterintuitive, but I usually get faster responces from their secure server. Try https://sourceforge.net
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars --Oscar Wilde
Grrr. my nick is "Forward the Light Brigade"...
too damn bad. There is nothing worse than people who don't practice what they preach.
CmdrPhony handed out awards at that open source clusterfuck awards show in New York, yet he won't open up the source here. I am surprised that Stallman and his cult would even stand next to these incredible fakes here at Slapdash.
At least with Sun and Apple, they spell out the fact that they are not TRUE open source in their licenses. They don't give the image that they are really the "good guys"
Please sir: I am ready for that -1. Any Slapdash source criticism will be instantly moderated down, but the people really know, they are a buch of fakers.
Sure, VA has tons of money right now. But what happens when the good times stop rolling, and they really need to make money? When the shareholders start asking real questions like, "how do this bring value to my shares"?
This brings publicity to VA. Most companies have a budget for publicity (not to be confused with a budget for advertising), SourceForge is part of VA's publicity budget.
As much as I hate to admit it, I'm now convinced that those upset that the source to slash hasn't been released in over a year are completely right to complain.
"slash" is supposedly an open source project - so where is the source?
Rob, practice what you preach.
-=-=-=-=-
-=-=-=-=-
My mom's going to kick you in the face!
Sourceforge is a long-term investment in Open Source. You can call it "giving back to the community", and it is that, but it's also about trying to encourage the development of more cool software. Hopefully, with better infrastructure, the Open Source coders of the world can put out better software more quickly. This is good for all Linux companies, including VA Linux.
At some level, this is no different from the developer support programs that Apple and Microsoft have. Those programs also cost Apple/Microsoft money; they're hardly profit centers! But given that with Open Source you don't have to tease developers with special programs so they can get the API's, we don't need standard developer support programs. But we can offer web sites like Source Forge which at some level is even more powerful. The goal is the same in both cases, though: to encourge 3rd party developers to write more cool software, thus enchancing the value of the platform. This strategy works for Windows and MacOS ---- why shouldn't we try to do something similar and support Open Source developers?
(INSTALL)----------------
There really is no SourceForge install procedure, since our
site is spread across 14 servers.
You can play with pieces of the site by setting up Apache/PHP
and pointing the document root to this distribution. It will
be necessary as well to setup MySQL and setup tables as described
in db/sourceforge.sql.
After that...
I'm not sure we'll ever really have something as simple as
an autoconf install, but we may be able to get certain modules
to work better as independent systems.
- The SourceForge Crew
(END)
----------------------------
Needless to say, that's somewhat less than helpful. I did that, and I get a lot of php errors. This appears to be in the spirit of "Here's what we run. You can use it to inspire your own development." Don't expect to install this and have your own little "mini-sourceforge." Good that they released something though, unlike certain other so-called Open Source advocates.
"Moderation is good, in theory."
-Larry Wall
There is no K5 cabal.
I am not the real rusty.
Don't you remember CmdrTaco saying in the recnt interview that everytime someone asks about it, he's going to delay the slash release by 24 hrs? We're already up to a couple of weeks' delay judging by the comments in this article.
Agreed, it seems miserly to withhold the code in an ostensibly open source project just because you don't like whiners. And I note that, because of human nature, not only does release time += 24hrs * complaints but complaints[N] += complaints[N-1]*2^delay ! (feedback loop) I.e., complaints increase delay, but delay also increases complaints.
But you guys aren't helping any. Write your own if you're so very impatient, and release it...start your own project.
Okay, that's enough. /. isn't an Open Source advocacy site. They are "news for nerds, stuff that matters". That stuff that matters just happens to include Open Source stuff.
What talk should Rob stop. He's repeated said he wasn't going to release the slash source ... and he hasn't. Sounds like the talk matches the walk pretty well.
Remember, /. isn't solely about Open Source and Linux. It's abotu all sorts of things which just happens to include open source and Linux. Maybe Rob doesn't support open source. It doesn't matter. It doesn't have anything to do with the stories on the front page.
-BrentAfter several 'incidents' with our paid-for virtual hosting here in the UK, we have started moving several features and replicating downloads over to our unit in SourceForge. So far it's been more reliable than our paid-for webspace, and just as quick, even though it's coming across the water.
One downer is that there's no ftp uploading availability. Instead it allows rsync and scp file transfers. This is done for security benefits. I also need a secure logon to admin our project. Either way this has got the makings of a really impressive service.
This is not a replacement for Freshmeat. It's something different. It's gives a central point for project developers, and also somewhere users can go to discuss project features, bugs, etc with the project maintainers.
In the long-term, I guess VA Linux is going to put more back into the community with SourceForge, than they are with Linux.com.
I just hope it stays free!
insignificant sig
Don't you remember CmdrTaco saying in the recnt interview that everytime someone asks about it, he's going to delay the slash release by 24 hrs?
Yes, I perceived that as arrogant and hypocritical, and I wasn't impressed.
Life's a bitch but somebody's gotta do it.
I'm willing to give them some slack, but maybe less than you. Yes, producing a useful site is a noble and worthwhile goal. But the overall wastefulness of writing bad code still irks me. Imagine if the Slash code was portable, sensible, and open-source. The overall results would be:
1) It would be easier for Rob and others to implement new features. It would take less time, and be less likely to break existing features. This is a natural result of good code, and on obvious Win for everyone.
2) Say the work Rob and others put into the code is X. Then say the benefit of having Slashdot is Y (vague terms, but you get the idea). If the code is ugly and closed, the total benefit gained from X is simply Y. This is well and good. But then imagine that the code is open and portable. So there is some additional benefit to be had from all the other sites that could use it. Call this Z. Good prgramming is inherently more beneficial than bad. In essence, bad programming is wasteful, since it restricts it's own use and limits the benefit we all gain from it.
I hate to feel like my work has been wasted. But many web programmers don't seem to feel that their work has any value outside of the websites they are personally running. If the webmasters who collectively wrote Apache felt that way, how much poorer would the whole web be now? All the justifications for why open source is better than closed apply just as well to web applications. It hurts me to see MS hoard and hide all their work and deprive the world of any benefit we might be able to gain from it. It hurts me equally to see a tool as powerful as slashdot hide it's code and only grant us the value of the site content itself. For MS to do it, well, that's their choice, wrong though it may be. But for slash to do it, that's just hypocrisy and selfishness.
I will certainly cut sourceforge massive slack. They're doing the right thing. Their code is now a project on sourceforge itself, and anyone can contribute to it's improvement. But Rob and co. have had plenty of time to do things right, and simply, arrogantly, refuse to. No more slack is deserved here.
"Moderation is good, in theory."
-Larry Wall
There is no K5 cabal.
I am not the real rusty.
"Moderation is good, in theory."
-Larry Wall
There is no K5 cabal.
I am not the real rusty.
True