Re: os discuss (http://www.osopinion.com/perl/story/7263.html)

[cjgidman@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

 ---- you wrote: 
<snip>

> Just like?  ..  maybe there are similarities  .. without the power to fire and
> leave a person destitute  ..  without the (direct) salary for sure.

Please don't forget the benefits of working for a
corporation.  A corporation has provided me with a fine
living for six years.  My medical needs are met.  I
have retirement pot building.  Food, housing, clothing
and even entertainment are all within my grasp.  Also,
please don't concede too much power over my life to the
corporation.  If this corporation doesn't keep me,
another one will.

It's easy to take pot shots at the bad points.  For
example, If I worked on free software all the time and
gave my work away, I would be "destitute without the
(direct) salary for sure."

There are advantages to corporations just as there are
advantages to free software.  

<snip>
 
> > Forgetting the schedules for a moment, I'd like to see
> > your explanations as to why Linux is NOT being run like
> > a large monolithic organization.  
> 
> Linux is not run like a corporation because the development model of
> corporations does not work as well.  (only time will tell for sure) Do you want
> to be able to use the results of developers, bug fixers and testers?  Or do you
> want to use the results of the overhead of a corporations:  Janitors, interest
> on capitol investments, marketeers salaries, salaries of managers who say
> release the software before it is stable and a low percentage of developers. 
> Software companies have a lot of overhead which I choose to support as little as
> possible.

Actually, I think my comment was a bit ill-phrased.
What I meant at the time was that I could not see how
the Linux Development effort is run any different than
a large corporation.  From my media-induced perspective,
I saw Linus at the top controlling the direction of the
development.

Further discussion (mentioned in another post) however,
has enlightened me.  If Linus does not want to go in
the same direction as the OS (choose the meaning) com-
munity, the community will go that direction without
him.  This is TRUE empowerement of the "employee", not
the lip service paid by corporations.  

> > Eric Raymond's final
> > comments in his Brief History of Hackerdomp point out that the bazzar/Open Source movement flourishes because
> > which has no standards, is released and fed back
> > rapidly, and which involves a great many
> > participants.
> > >From my perspective, Linus appears to sit in his great
> > white throne and judge what stays and what goes.
> 
> His throne is built on his own ego instead of a pile of money.  (OK, maybe a
> little bit of money)

But, I see that you agreed with me.  Dirk, trading one
dictator for another regardless of the currency doesn't
necessarily make the second one right.  Try to consider
the process, not the person.  My statement about
empowerment above shows that I no longer agree with my
first assessment of Linus and his position.

The remainder of your post seems to indicate that you
do, in fact, feel that Linus and his clique of accepted
developers is really controlling the direction of the
development effort.  If this is the case, then Linus
does in fact have the potential of hindering the tech-
nological advancement of the system.  I'm not sure this
is the case anymore, and perhaps you should reconsider
your point of view.

<snip>

Chris.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Get your free email from AltaVista at http://altavista.iname.com