This would make a good topic. Let's consider this topic for our February advanced meeting.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Edmund Cramp" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, January 15, 2005 9:38 PM Subject: [brlug-general] $BIG_NUM (was Supporting Linux vs. Linux Zealotry) > David Jackson wrote: > >> I find your entire argument to be wrong; not just wrong as in >> incorrect, but wrong as in morally, and ethically. Does this make me an >> idealist? Certainly, but I am in good company. Our founding fathers >> were idealists. >> >> Does that make me wrong, simply because I am an idealist? I think >> not. > > <snip> > >> Well, where the hell is their money coming from then? Companies >> operate from profits, and if open source is not profitable, without >> adopting proprietary standards, why is Redhat even in business? > > Well this is a *lot* more interesting than the topics for the recent LUG > meetings! > > I think that the question of "What is a programmer worth?" is > interesting - I've been employing programmers (on and off - I've even been > one myself) for quite a few years (how long? - let's just say that I > remember seeing Linus' original RFC), and it's rarely been a happy > experience. I've seen "programmers" who were worth a lot less than > $8/hour - and $8/hr is quite a bit more than our government thinks you > need to live on. > > I think that programmers almost always under estimate the complexity of > the problem, and over estimate their ability to code for it. These two > failures lead directly to projects failing to complete in anything > remotely resembling "on time" and inevitably either costing and taking > more time and money than budgeted and/or being drastically pruned to get > something out of the door... which in turn leads to poor coding and > application bugs. > > On the other hand - one of the good things about GPL/Open Source > programming is that, in general, code is released when it works, and it's > then tested by a diverse collection of folks with no pressing need to > release it on any given date. This makes GPL software more likely to work > than many commercial applications and tends to prevent the release of code > that would be better recycled as firelighters. > > I don't understand people who think that there's no sound commercial basis > for GPL software - I guess these are people who never think about how much > money they spend on razor blades or printer cartridges. > > Edmund Cramp > > -- > Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large groups. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > General mailing list > [email protected] > http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net > >
