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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. Not really a Frost Pist, but in that spirit... by Japong · · Score: 0, Troll

    So in the interest of promoting better versions of firefox/linux, we should all be trolling this article, right? MEXICAN GAY JEW LIZARDS!

  2. Flamewars Are Good! by Cr0w+T.+Trollbot · · Score: 0, Troll
    Of course, I don't expect the rest of you tree-hugging pinko communist dupes to agree with me. If you were amenable to reason, you would have long ago seen that gun control doesn't work, outsourcing is inevitable, Iraq was a threat to the free world, the McDonald's coffee lawsuit was a travesty of trail lawyers gone amuck, CBS forged the National Guard memos, and that Presidnet George W. Bush won the last election fair and square. The fact that some of you have failed to come around to these obvious truths just goes to show you how deluded and/or stupid you are. Perhaps you should give up your hopeless crusade against Windows, stop stealing the RIAA's music, read some Ayn Rand, and get a clue.

    Why, I bet some of you are still using Vi rather than Emacs, which is obviously the superior choice.

    Of course, what do you expect from people who treat their enemies just like Hitler treated the Jews?

    (Did I cover everything?)

    - Crow T. Trollbot