Re: [Hampshire] Recommended Book - But....

On Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 14:52:34 +0000, Andy Smith wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 14, 2007 at 12:52:10PM +0100, Chris Liddell wrote:
> > I doubt there would be OSS, and an lot of other stuff that's built
> > on the back of OSS, if it weren't for ESR.
>
> Like what? And is that a bad thing? Linux predates "Open Source".
> Is it "fetchmail" we can't live without? I seem to be doing OK. A
> couple of his books were readable, but I wouldn't want to be stuck
> in a lift with the guy for more than 2 minutes.

Pretty much agreed.

Sure without him we'd almost certainly not have had an open Mozilla
by now, but otherwise it is really hard to think what he's done.
His coding has been both minimal and mediocre, and his "self-elected
spokesperson" role has brought as many problems as results.

I can think of other people who I respect who've had a net positive
benefit to open-source growth and adoption, but ESR has a reputation
he hasn't earned and doesn't deserve.

Steve
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