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Hi all:
> This is a configuration management problem. The open source movement
> must have to deal with this, so we should learn from them.
[---]
> This implies the need for a 'gatekeeper'.
Citing from the OMS annoucement from Thu, December 30, 2004 9:55 am:
"Oberon microsystems will continue to use BlackBox in some customer
projects, and thus is interested first and foremost in a stable code base,
with as few changes and additions as possible. Nevertheless, there may be
new releases from time to time, which we will provide as open source as
well."
We should not assume that OMS have shed their right to be the primary
actor in the BlackBox development. On the other hand, we should also not
expect them to act like Linus Torvalds, whose gatekeeper work was
performed within academia (in other words, he did not have to earn his
salary that way, at least not until Linux became an industry by itself).
I also do not believe we as a community can take over BlackBox development
in a meanigful way. To this end I remember the Unified Oberon System V4,
where an enthusiastic developer promised to take over and consolidate all
V4 source code. That effort wilted as soon as it was announced. The effort
was substantial, and the guy had to earn his living, so he quit after a
couple weeks.
Based on these lessons, I am postulating that a "gatekeeper", if any, must
earn a considerable portion of his living from the gatekeeping effort,
because it is very substantial. Alternatively, the "gatekeeper" may be
supported by donations from the community, or from an academic salary. We
may exercise these thoughts, but who is going to pay the bill? (If anybody
in this group has substantial $$ to spend on this, then I suggest to send
these $$ to OMS right away, because they have proven to be the best
gatekeepers.)
To summarize my thoughts:
-- Keep doing improvements and discuss these in the mailing list.
-- If the improvement seems substantial, send it to OMS.
-- Remember the fate of Unified Oberon V4 and why it collapsed.
-- Ask yourself if you want to be the "gatekeeper" on top of your current
workload. If the answer is "no", please do not bother to suggest
anybody else will take this role.
-- Do not spend bandwidth discussing would-be efforts on the scale
of Linux, unless you have the resources to make it happen.
Additionally:
-- Ask yourself why the "apparently free" Linux was funded on the scale
of about one billion dollars? (Hint: perhaps some big company wanted
to deliver a friendly competition to the MS doors? Perhaps this
friendly company was IBM?)
-- If you can divert 1/10,000 of Linux funding to our backyard, then
by all means please do so.
Hope this helps,
W.
--------------------------------------------
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Received on Tue Jan 11 2005 - 17:01:21 UTC