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Linux 'Awfully Cathedral-Like' - Java's a Bazaar
jg21 writes "LinuxWorld draws attention to a curious use of ESR's The Cathedral and the Bazaar by the Sun Microsystems exec who currently talks about Linux more than he does even about Java. Apparently Sun's President and COO Jonathan Schwartz said at a press briefing last week that Java with its JCP is more like ESR's Bazaar than Linux, which he dismissed as being "awfully cathedral-like" since Linus is the final arbiter (or Great Dictator), and not a committee." But be sure you don't mis-use the word Java in this Bazaar or the Mall Police will totally get you.
I guess if ESR were to contribute something to the development of software, I might consider his model worth considering. One thing he's done is write self-aggrandizing screeds that are easy to attack, and wouldn't ya know, Sun does so.
What part of "A well regulated militia" do you not understand?
Don't forget that 97% of desktop users "forked off" Linux by using another OS, mainly Windows. When you are in a cult, it's easy to assume everyone loves your leader because there is little opposition that you see among the converted.
Oh well, I am sure everyone loves Linus as a person. But kernel development is mostly driven by cool research features, open source purity (replacing firmware binaries) and corporate users. If it was otherwise, kernel wouldn't have SMP until every Winmodem is supported, kernel modules would only need recompiling once in several years, and there would be a stable interface ATI and NVIDIA could use for their binary drivers.
If that was the focus of Linux from the beginning, it would surely have a double-digit market share by now. And yes, people would be complaining about Linus and forking the code - because there would be more people to do these kind of things.