From: Dave Winer (dave@userland.com)
Date: Sat Sep 16 2000 - 20:23:58 PDT
I hate to tell you this, but *all* software that's alive is a process.
http://davenet.userland.com/1995/09/03/wemakeshittysoftware
"Software is a process, it's never finished, it's always evolving. That's
its nature. We know our software sucks. But it's shipping! Next time we'll
do better, but even then it will be shitty. The only software that's perfect
is one you're dreaming about. Real software crashes, loses data, is hard to
learn and hard to use. But it's a process. We'll make it less shitty. Just
watch!"
Dave
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eirikur Hallgrimsson" <eh@mad.scientist.com>
To: <fork@xent.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 16, 2000 7:20 PM
Subject: Civilization as Open Source.... Was Re: Congrats! OS/X in NYTimes
> The discussion of Open Source projects as being perpetually in
> progress needs some perspective. A Free Software object is by
> definition perpetually in a process of refinement until it is
> replaced.
>
> Other public goods like civilization, itself, are similarly works in
> process, inherently not standing still. And, notably, many parts of
> it are inefficient, and some clearly broken. And yet, most people
> get by. Some are working on the problems. Many are freeloaders.
>
> Holding Free Software to be faulty for not being complete is missing
> the point. Free Software is about the journey and about how we can
> have more fullfilling lives if we don't have to reinvent the wheel
> all the time. It's about software as a long-term public good, as
> opposed to a short-term commercial advantage.
>
> By the way, most commercial software licences disclaim completeness
> and fitness for any given purpose. I don't see how you can
> favorably contrast this with Free Software. Compare apples to
> apples.
>
> Eirikur
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Sep 16 2000 - 20:33:25 PDT