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Eric Raymond: Why Open Source will Rule
DNapalm writes "A very interesting two part interview with Raymond from ZDNet, talking about the success of open source and Linux on the desktop, among other things. Check out Part I and Part II (I liked part II)." Raymond also asserts that Microsoft could have killed Linux if only they'd started a little earlier.
And why can't you communicate it clearly? Think for ten minutes before beginning the rant, then do the rant, reread it before posting, and make all the sentences clear. Also, please have all the sentences leading to a central point.
What Eric really means here is, "Why Eric Raymond will rule". Napoleon in his own mind, it is of no use trying to argue with the man. Or you would have to enjoy wrestling pigs in the mud.
Pushin' 'n dealin', shovin' 'n stealin'
Ever wonder why the Los Alomos preprint server offers the papers in that format?
No.
You are supposed to make money providing "service"-- meaning, make sure the code is just crappy enough that most users have to keep paying you for what is supposedly "free." This is the flaw with Open Source-- there's a perverse incentive against writing code which so good that the user can actually use it by themself.
This guy may be a great programmer,
He's not. He's simply a member of the technical counterculture. I just finished reading Salus' 'A Quarter Century of UNIX.' Raymond is mentioned nowhere in that book. He's part of a group of people who are trying to appropriate the image that the authentic UNIX hackers carried. Note- the authentic hackers didn't try to look that way. They just did.
Raymond is a poseur, and a blowhard. His kind of person often attaches himself to a 'revolutionary movement' shortly after people start paying attention to it.
Almost as bad as the motherfuckers who are spamming trolltalk and making it fucking useless for fucks like us who have fucking shit we need to get done. (Not quite as bad since I use NS4.7.)
sulli
RTFJ.