<quote who="Ken Foskey"> > This appears to diminish the experiments that do occur. I can agree with > your generalisation however we should not minimise any effort on FOSS, > even experiments. What about those scheduling experiments on the kernel, > ultimately led to a major performance improvement for me personally.
Yeah, I don't mean to diminish the importance of experimentation... it's a crucial part of the Open Source (scientific) process. But there is a BIIIG difference between mucking around with stuff "in the lab" and producing a product for Real Users. The kernel is actually a really good example... it usually takes a fairly long time between the genesis of ideas and practical, shipping functionality based on those experiments. The original point was this: it's very easy to say "that's five lines of code!" but it's a very rare circumstance in which a comment like that is actually correct (particularly in the Real World, which is far messier than the imagination fairy land we need to inhabit in order to innovate). - Jeff -- linux.conf.au 2010: Wellington, NZ http://www.penguinsvisiting.org.nz/ "Our 20th anniversary issue, we suspect, will be about the year of the Linux desktop." - Jon Corbet, LWN -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
