At 08:24 PM 4/10/2002 -0500, you wrote: >The majority of open source software is written by people who expect to use >the software. Therefore, you have more occurances of developers actually >using their software, and performing their own bug testing. This, >unfortunately, doesn't happen in many large software shops. For example, I >doubt the developers of Microsoft Encarta end up using the software for >their own use, and QA is done by other employees. The "release early, >release often" methodology also contributes to a smaller number of bugs in a >given release of software. Large software packages, as a marketing rule, >bundle bug fixes together for the next major release, rather than releasing >many point releases when bugs are found and fixed. In a lot of cases, you >don't get fixes until enough "features" have been added to justify a version >upgrade.
Excellent points, and I tend to agree. >I think, for these reasons, as well as the "more eyeballs" reason, that open >source software by nature is more error-proof. To open up another avenue of discussion.. But can it also be said that more open source than commercial software is written by self-trained or hobbyists programmers? Could this result in the average open source program being written poorly, or at least not with the same rigor as commercial programs? Perhaps we should take Microsoft out of the discussion and only include all other commercial software. It's too easy to attack Microsoft code, and they are certainly not the major supplier of [all] software. Let's consider open source vs. commercial-code-without-Microsoft to keep the conversation on track. And if someone brings up Microsoft I'll bring up Sendmail as a counter example. Regards, Dustin >-Tim > > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Dustin Puryear" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2002 8:16 PM >Subject: Re: [brluglist] windows sucks > > > > At 05:39 PM 4/10/2002 -0700, you wrote: > > >Yes. > > > > How does writing open source software reduce the number of errors that you > > introduce into code? In my view open source software only increases the > > number of eyeballs that can spot those errors. > > > > Regards, Dustin > > > > > > > > >John Hebert > > > > > >--- Dustin Puryear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > At 03:25 PM 4/10/2002 -0700, you wrote: > > > > >Sounds like a combination of problems. But, when it > > > > >comes to tracking down problems, I _always_ suspect > > > > >software, not hardware, first. Software is just > > > > easier > > > > >to screw up, especially on a closed source > > > > operating > > > > >system. Now, it may be that the hardware in the > > > > > > > > Do you think closed software is easier to "screw up" > > > > or simply more > > > > difficult to fix? Does writing open source software > > > > reduce the number of > > > > errors you introduce into code, or increase the > > > > number of people able to > > > > spot the errors? > > > > > > > > Regards, Dustin > > > > > > > > > > > > --- > > > > Dustin Puryear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > UNIX and Network Consultant > > > > http://members.telocity.com/~dpuryear > > > > PGP Key available at http://www.us.pgp.net > > > > In the beginning the Universe was created. > > > > This has been widely regarded as a bad move. - > > > > Douglas Adams > > > > > > > > ================================================ > > > > BRLUG - The Baton Rouge Linux User Group > > > > Visit http://www.brlug.net for more information. > > > > Send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] to change > > > > your subscription information. > > > > ================================================ > > > > > > > > >__________________________________________________ > > >Do You Yahoo!? > > >Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax > > >http://taxes.yahoo.com/ > > >================================================ > > >BRLUG - The Baton Rouge Linux User Group > > >Visit http://www.brlug.net for more information. > > >Send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] to change > > >your subscription information. > > >================================================ > > > > > > --- > > Dustin Puryear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > UNIX and Network Consultant > > http://members.telocity.com/~dpuryear > > PGP Key available at http://www.us.pgp.net > > In the beginning the Universe was created. > > This has been widely regarded as a bad move. - Douglas Adams > > > > ================================================ > > BRLUG - The Baton Rouge Linux User Group > > Visit http://www.brlug.net for more information. > > Send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] to change > > your subscription information. > > ================================================ > > > >================================================ >BRLUG - The Baton Rouge Linux User Group >Visit http://www.brlug.net for more information. >Send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] to change >your subscription information. >================================================ --- Dustin Puryear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> UNIX and Network Consultant http://members.telocity.com/~dpuryear PGP Key available at http://www.us.pgp.net In the beginning the Universe was created. This has been widely regarded as a bad move. - Douglas Adams ================================================ BRLUG - The Baton Rouge Linux User Group Visit http://www.brlug.net for more information. Send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] to change your subscription information. ================================================
