McVoy Strikes Back

cranos writes "Fast on the heels of his previous article claiming the kernel is at risk of Bad Things over the BitKeeper fuss, Daniel Lyons has released a new article where Larry McVoy attacks the Open Source movement as non-innovative and dependent on the kindness of corporations. The following quote says it all: 'The open source guys can scrape together enough resources to reverse engineer stuff. That's easy. It's way cheaper to reverse engineer something than to create something new. But if the world goes to 100% open source, innovation goes to zero. The open source guys hate it when I say this, but it's true.'"

Comments

I think it's true...

[10Ghz]

...When they said that McVoy really is an asshole.

I can't disagree

[sbraab]

I am a big open source fan, but I can't disagree with this. Most open source applications are built as replacements for commercial applications. Many try to look just like the original. Sure most have one or two innovative features, but what applications in the OS world are really innovative, especially from an end user perspective?

Re:No innovation?

[Jondaley]

> Can anyone tell me if BitKeeper contains any innovations?

Nah, he just copied it from SGI before he left there.

Re:So, you programmers ready to give up your jobs?

[tomhudson]

WTF? How many times do people say "The right tool for the right job"? Open-source software is a TOOL. You can use open-source software to run real brick-and-mortar businesses. Not everything is "virtual reality" or selling software. Real goods have to be produced, handled, and sold.

Sure, open-source reduces revenues for certain software producers. For example, I don't need to run a virus scanner, because I'm not running a certain closed-source OS, so Symantec doesn't get any $$$ from me. Aw, too bad ...

The web server in my office has a decent uptime last time I looked (yesterday). It's also open-source, but it helps run the business.

The sales guys are running web apps on that same open-source OS as their desktop, using an open-source browser to check inventory, print, etc. They seem to be making a living.

This whole thing stinks of sour grapes. And you obviously don't "get it" either.

Re:Non-innovative?

[anothy]

And, in the case of OpenSSH (for instance) the copy actually is better than the original. I rest my case.

i'm sure you do. and that's exactly the problem. i agree that OpenSSH was an improvement over the original in many ways, but that's not the point: incrementally improving on the original is not innovation. it's excellent software work, good architecture and design work, and OpenSSH is a prime example of good open source working well as a component of a development methodology. but it is not an example of innovation.

you (and the community) have better examples.