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RMS Weighs In On BitKeeper
An anonymous reader writes ". . . and boy, is he pissed! The BitKeeper license, he told the Linux kernel mailing list, is 'the whip hand' of proprietary software. His brief but pungent comment is carried by Linux and Main."
Just the kind of worthless tripe they love to carry! It'd be nice if dep could try to go a couple of days without trying to fan the flames of another minor squabble, but I guess he's busy trying to be the Jerry Springer of the open source world...
RMS needs to keep quiet. If he's so pissed, why doesn't he go work on the HURD kernel and use his own version control system? Let Linus use whatever the fuck he wants to use to develop HIS kernel. I never recall seeing "Linux is a registered trademark of RICHARD M. STALLMAN."
Yes, but the converse of this is that you don't have to "tinker, change, or modify anything," either. BitMover, like other vendors of closed-source software, offer their customers an implicit agreement. BitMover delivers to its customers software that does such-and-such, in exchange for some money. (In this case, they're not even requiring the money.) In return, the customer gets the benefit of not having to create the software in question from scratch, and of not having to do any work at all to maintain it.
This is a good and sensible thing. It wouldn't bother me a bit if the hood on my car were welded shut; I have no particular proficiency for working on cars, and even though I could do so, I never do. Same with my software. I tend not to use open source software much because compiling it-- in some cases, porting it-- is work, work that I would prefer not to do. When I do use open source software, I buy or download binary distributions so I don't have to get my hands greasy under the hood. These are my preferences.
The argument that closed-source software is bad because it is closed-source is circular, tautological, and kind of boring.
I write in my journal
Unfortunately, he is a crank - but a crank who often has some good points.
It's better when RMS is NOT involved!
The philosophy you are expressing is known as extremism. Works just fine in the Middle East.
If you start with a group of ten people who are managing to cooperate just fine, and then you add Richard Stallman to the group, how many trouble makers do you now have? Ten. Everyone _except_ RMS. Why can't they all cooperate? It's such a terrible puzzle.
Who would have thought RMS would be against software you have to pay for?
And the correct answer is.....Shoot Richard Stallman.....TWICE
Linus has /never/ used any source control system, least of all CVS (which he appears to have a very low opinion of). BitKeeper was originally created to provide a source control system that would be able to handle Linux kernel development - Larry McVoy looked at the way the kernel was developed and figured that Linus would end up burnt out and collapse, and decided that the best way he could help prevent that was to develop a source control system that would ease Linus' load. Thus BitKeeper was born . . .
Please, do a little bit of research before posting thoughts on this kind of thing - posting without knowing what you're talking about tends to make you look rather ignorant.
himi
My very own DeCSS mirror.
In other words, he didn't even try CVS?
Not to nitpick or anything, but didn't Linus take some time out of his original schedule to develop a product for which a better, though commercial, on existed? I'm talking about linux here.
Not to nitpick back, but please do a better job seperating what you say from what you quote. There are handy little tags to do breaks or you can select plain old text from the drop down. That said, on to your comment.
Yes, there are some commercial products which may still be a little better than linux. However, big 'nixes don't run on x86 hardware and they are too expensive (except solaris). Besides which, Linus did not take time off his important project to do Linux, Linux is his important project.
Hope you find your pants.
Yeah, well, I've worked with EDS techs who had assignments to GM plants - the lightswitch guy had to turn on (and off) all the lights, etc. They had a pallet sit on the dock from late one afternoon to early the next morning waiting on the right person to sign for it. No making a note and getting the damn thing. If you're in an auto union I recommend you go kill yourself tonight - better yet, requestion an approved union pillow-smotherer to end your parasitic life at the first available opportunity.
Writers imply. Readers infer.