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Interview: Ask Bruce Perens What You Will

Posted by samzenpus on from the go-ahead-and-ask dept.

Bruce Perens is a computer programmer and one of the most important advocates for the open source community. He co-founded the Open Source Initiative with ESR and has worked towards reforms of national and international technology policies. He is an amateur radio enthusiast, and has pushed for open radio communication standards. He is also our interview guest today. As usual, ask as many questions as you'd like, but please, one per post.

8 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. Unbalanced by Hentai · · Score: 5, Funny

    Can you please convince ESR to change his name to Eric CloseParens? It's been bugging me for like, decades.

    --
    -Hentai [in vita non pacem est]
  2. Er...what's left in "open source" to talk about? by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Having lived through the entire lifecycle of "open source," it seems like its place in development communities and businesses is well-established, with a mix of different licensing and deployment models for whatever anyone wants to do.

    So...is there really anything interesting left in "open source" to talk about? (Software patents, maybe, but even that's picked up some case law.)

  3. Question by u38cg · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What do you think of Slashdot Beta?

    --
    [FUCK BETA]
    1. Re:Question by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 3, Informative

      Given that Bruce restarted Technocrat.net in response to the Great Slashdot Beta Uprising, this question is certainly not offtopic.

      --

      How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
  4. systemd by Hognoxious · · Score: 3, Funny

    systemd - why?

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  5. How do we address the weaknesses of Open Source? by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm an Graphics + UI + UX expert and use open source when I can (I also contribute to a minor open source emulator.)

    1. What can we as a community do to address the weaknesses of Open Source?
    That is, I see time and time again in open source:

    * Functionality not on par with certain commercial apps,
    * Bad UI,
    * Poor documentation such as man files that don't have any freaking examples,
    * A million and one clones that duplicate basic functionality

    2. How do you respond to trolls who call open source "open sores" ?

    3. How do we overcome the perceived image that "you get what you pay for" That is, some people think that if it is free it isn't worth anything, or it is only "worth" something if I must pay $$$ for it ?

    4. Finally, is there an up-to-date list that shows all the various open source "equivalents" of commercial software?

    Cheers

    --
    Only Cowards Censor

  6. State of the Union address / 16 this year by Martin+S. · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The OSI is 16 this year and in many ways has experienced a difficult childhood but has grown stronger as a result.

    What challenges do you forsee out child for the future?

  7. Credit for the OSS movement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Some years ago, around 2006, I attended a talk from Eric S. Raymond at a venue large enough to accommodate his massive ego and still leave room for attendees. He informed that he had essentially given HP their Open Source strategy. Your name was not mentioned once. I am curious what were your discussions like at HP during your time there, specifically in regards to the ideals of Free Software versus Open Source. My question specifically:

    What legal and financial hurdles and impacts, if any, did HP (and other companies) face when deciding between Open Source and Free Software models? I.e., what proprietary assets/IP could not be completely "freed"? What were the savings/costs associated with the decisions?