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Flame Wars, Forks and Freedom

Posted by Hemos on from the controversial-ideas dept.

Eugenia Loli-Queru writes "In the news media, it is generally shown that flame wars and forks are detrimental to the growth of FOSS (Free/Open Source Software) But if we see the history of FOSS, both flame wars and forks have played a crucial role in determining both growth and direction of important projects. There are also arguments that this leads to fragmentation and marginalization. There is some truth in these arguments but there are a lot of benefits which are often overlooked. This article looks at some of the benefits of forking and flame wars through history."

2 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. Flamebait ~= by ContractualObligatio · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Slightly off topic, but I was intrigued to read about the origins of the smiley in UserFriendly's link of the day. I particularly liked the character sequence to indicate flame bait (think of a candle). Doesn't quite work in all fonts, like the subject, but good for plain text

    ~=

  2. There are additional uses of flames... by abramovs · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    See how much better the movie is now:
    Star Wars: Episode IV