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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."

6 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. bah by nomadic · · Score: 5, Funny

    This story is just STUPID!! That's it, I'm starting my own slashdot!

    1. Re:bah by mattyrobinson69 · · Score: 5, Funny

      YEAH!!! lets fork slashdot into a pro-windows website and call it \.

  2. Well, wait a minute... by Tackhead · · Score: 5, Funny
    > 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.

    Well, WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON, bud? Huh?

    You can't post a juicy title like "Flame Wars, Forks and Freedom" without taking a side.

    What are you, some kind of GNU/Commie? ESR-Capitalist? Microsoft Nazi? (Or a paid OS X shill?)

    And if you're just trying to present both sides of the argument in a fair and balanced fashion (sorry, I know a friend who worked at FOX, but since his facts are licensed FreeBSD-style, it's OK if I use them on Slashdot), then what are you doing whining about it on Slashdot? For chrissakes, man, just do a CVS branch and start coding your own facts, dammit!

  3. Flame Wars through history by gowen · · Score: 5, Funny
    This article looks at some of the benefits of forking and flame wars through history.
    Hey! Who remembers that crazy flame fest between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. Man, those guys were really wailing at each other on IRC. Lenin called Martov a lam3r, and then Kollontai said he was like totally quitting cos no-one respected his L33T SKILLZ!

    Crazy.

    Oh, wait, you meant "in the last ten years". My bad.
    --
    Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
  4. I think I speak for all of us when I say... by testing124 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Goodbye, XFree86.

    --
    Karma: bad (mostly unaffected by funny mods)
  5. Analogy Police by BabyDave · · Score: 5, Funny

    Forks spur competition. It is a bit like evolution. In nature, a new species survives if the differentiation from the dominant group gives it an advantage for survival in a hostile world. That is why the dinosaurs died out and the mammals survived.

    So they're saying we should drop an asteroid on the XFree86 developers?