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

At 16:58 14/06/2007 +0100, you wrote:

>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.

I guess I should have said that I doubt there would have been a OSS
movement /in form in which it is today/ without his evangelical fervour in
the mid to late 90's. And I don't think we would have had the internet in
its current form without the increasing proliferation of open source software.

It's not the software he's developed (which, I must admit, I generally
avoid), but the effect he had when open source was still a rather quaint
idea that students and nut jobs hacked around with until they got a real
job. ESR's fervent advocacy got it noticed by a lot of people that wouldn't
have paid attention otherwise.

The trouble is that I think it's that fervour that now counts against him,
and by extension (sometimes) the open source community. I think we're long
past the "shout until we're noticed" stage.

As I said, I do respect him because he helped a lot to get us noticed, but
I don't think he's moved with the times, and it's now counting against us.
Maybe my respect will start slipping away on that basis......

Chris





--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.472 / Virus Database: 269.8.15/848 - Release Date: 13/06/2007 12:50