Arch Linux

Mr.Elendig

#archlinux@freenode channel op

From: The intertubes

Registered: 2004-11-07

Posts: 4,094

The sorry state of open source today

The sorry state of open source today

Just a little something to read on if you ever get bored.

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Evil #archlinux@libera.chat channel op and general support dude.
. files on github, Screenshots, Random pics and the rest

syd

Member

From: Auckland, NZ

Registered: 2006-01-22

Posts: 155

Re: The sorry state of open source today

I just wasted a hole lot of time..............
I think this guy needs to try out archlinux.
I think he focused to much on the major distros which while being the most popular aren't always the choice of people that know what they are doing with linux.
Don't know, Think this guys just got too much time on his hands. Some of his points are really good and valid but theres always going to be a time when we're unhappy with the state of Linux.
I was unhappy when the 2.6 kernel came out and there were problems from sound drivers to sata controllers but thats life, try using windows for a day.

(try using vista for the next year. How long did it take ms to get xp working properly.)

Syd

bones

Member

From: Brisbane

Registered: 2006-03-24

Posts: 322

Website

Re: The sorry state of open source today

I just wasted a hole lot of time..............
I think this guy needs to try out archlinux.
I think he focused to much on the major distros which while being the most popular aren't always the choice of people that know what they are doing with linux.
Don't know, Think this guys just got too much time on his hands. Some of his points are really good and valid but theres always going to be a time when we're unhappy with the state of Linux.
I was unhappy when the 2.6 kernel came out and there were problems from sound drivers to sata controllers but thats life, try using windows for a day.

(try using vista for the next year. How long did it take ms to get xp working properly.)

Syd

Agree totally

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"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."

Gullible Jones

Member

Registered: 2004-12-29

Posts: 4,863

Re: The sorry state of open source today

I think the problem is less the sorry state of OSS than the sorry state of software in general.

That said, despite the accurace of Sturgeon's Corollary in this case, the 10% of software that's not crap is still a lot of software.

david_e

Member

From: Italy

Registered: 2006-08-28

Posts: 83

Re: The sorry state of open source today

I just wasted a hole lot of time..............
I think this guy needs to try out archlinux.

He actually speaks about ArchLinux: but only to say that the rolling release system is crazy...

I think this article is far too tragic: 2.6.19 to 2.6.20 kernel changes are not "madness" are just changes, the enterprise user is not supposed to change his kernel  every coupple of weeks or so. It is ok if changes like these break something in the old config as it is ok if an old win3.1 application don't runs in windows xp...

I dislike the "ultra conservative" attitude of the author: it's ok if the end user stiks with the old "stable" version, but it's perfectly ok if the developers releases something new and buggy: this is free sw. so it's up to the willing users to do some beta testing...

On the "patent" thing: patents are really evil, but I think that Microsoft has much to loose in sueing Red-Hat or some smaller open sw. house if the latter is patenting its own technologies. It's impossible that Microsoft code doesn't violate some patents too... It's more likely to happen that a small company sues Microsoft for violating some patents just to raise some funds.

I do really hope this patent legislation will not make its way in Europe and maybe we could hope that a future US government will abolish it...

Last edited by david_e (2007-04-24 00:47:42)

bones

Member

From: Brisbane

Registered: 2006-03-24

Posts: 322

Website

Re: The sorry state of open source today

I do really hope this patent legislation will not make its way in Europe and maybe we could hope that a future US government will abolish it

I for one won't be holding my breath for this while goverments bow to the big corporations

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"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."

mosor

Member

Registered: 2007-04-02

Posts: 22

Re: The sorry state of open source today

I think this article is far too tragic: 2.6.19 to 2.6.20 kernel changes are not "madness" are just changes, the enterprise user is not supposed to change his kernel  every coupple of weeks or so. It is ok if changes like these break something in the old config as it is ok if an old win3.1 application don't runs in windows xp...

Windows 3.11 was released in 1992, Windows XP in 2001, and there is no way you can compare those two OSes - so it's reasonable to think Win3.11 applications don't run on WinXP. Kernels 2.6.19 and 2.6.20 are just months apart, and there actually shouldn't be breaking changes between them .

david_e

Member

From: Italy

Registered: 2006-08-28

Posts: 83

Re: The sorry state of open source today

I think this article is far too tragic: 2.6.19 to 2.6.20 kernel changes are not "madness" are just changes, the enterprise user is not supposed to change his kernel  every coupple of weeks or so. It is ok if changes like these break something in the old config as it is ok if an old win3.1 application don't runs in windows xp...

Windows 3.11 was released in 1992, Windows XP in 2001, and there is no way you can compare those two OSes - so it's reasonable to think Win3.11 applications don't run on WinXP. Kernels 2.6.19 and 2.6.20 are just months apart, and there actually shouldn't be breaking changes between them .

Yes the Windows 3.11 vs. Xp is really a bad example , but 2.6.20 is the first "breaking update" in the 2.6 series (as far as I know) (and it was not that hard to rewrite my /etc/fstab): Red Hat users won't face it till some years as windows users had many years to change to the NT kernel, because the develop of the new kernel is closed and no one can see the changes in the kernel until the new release of windows. If XP users could always install the "CVS version" of the kernel while it was evolving into the kernel of Vista they would have experienced a lot of breakages...  (I remember having big troubles in the SP2 upgrade and it was not meant to be an evolution of the Xp, but just a fix...)

KerowynM

Member

Registered: 2006-06-04

Posts: 78

Re: The sorry state of open source today

Hehe, I found it funny that in the rant about package management there is no mention of pacman.  Of course, had he any experience with it he would have had to scrap that section.

I also fail to see how 'corporate adoption is essential for the survival of Linux!' either.  Everything Linux has was built without corporate adoption, and development isn't likely to stop any time soon.

I couldn't bear to read any more then that.  Just trying to pass the time while I wait for pacman 3 to hit the repos...

Weeks

Member

Registered: 2006-01-26

Posts: 91

Re: The sorry state of open source today

I like constructive criticism, but that article was just a bit too much, and wasn't constructive. A diatribe would be a better description. There are a lot of things wrong with software in general and OSS, but things only improve when people find a problem and propose and ideally implement a solution; everything else is worthless.

Phlosten

Member

Registered: 2006-12-10

Posts: 7

Re: The sorry state of open source today

Too much time spent dealing with patent paperwork and related crap has caused software in general to be lackluster. I am more concerned with the state of software on Windows (ie non-oss) than the oss on Linux.

Every time I touch a Windows machine I spend endless hours wrestling with crappy unstable software and drivers. At least with open source I can fix it myself if I feel that way inclined.

McQueen

Member

From: Arizona

Registered: 2006-03-20

Posts: 387

Re: The sorry state of open source today

That guy is always on about something and then generally right off it again. Noise.

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