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I think I finaly understand how poets feel who bemoan their existence in a soceity that doesn't understand them. My previous post is getting some interesting comments on digg and I wish to make it clear that I am in no way against the "open source" idea, I am a firm believer that above all else, be practical.There is a large proportion of the "open source movement" that has spent so long shouting "OPEN SOURCE RULEZZ!1" that they've become blinded by their own zealotry. Take the GNU Compiler Collection, I use it daily, it's a wonderful toolset to have essentially "for free," but it is by no means the best compiler out there. Anybody who has done any reasonable amount of work with C++ knows that before gcc 4, compiling C++ code (Qt anybody?) with gcc was slow and painful at best. With the 4 branch, C++ code generation has greatly improved, but I still don't believe it's even near the level of Intel's compilers, nor can anything touch the Plan 9 compilers yet. Does this mean that gcc SUCKS! No, of course not, but it does mean that like most software, gcc is not perfect, and we shouldn't be afraid to point out it's imperfections.
i like my interfaces like i like my women, bloated?
One of the largest short-comings of an open source operating system, is the X11/Xorg/XFree86 abomination. The half-retarded Server-Client architecture aside, it's been a system that's been "accepted" just because there isn't any other option out there, and like most of *nix roots, it's been around since before I was born, you know, back in the day when you would toggle bits by flipping switches on the front of your PDP-11. Does this mean that X* is completely worthless? Not at all, but we must recognize it for what it is, an archaic system with new shiny bits tacked on top of it. Alternatives do exist but it's not likely that anything will be able to topple X*'s reign on the *nix operating systems. I use X11 almost daily, but don't delude yourself, it's not the best "we" can do, not by a long shot.there's a support group, and we all meet at the pub
Too many people I fear are taking the wrong idea away from my previous posting, I am in no way bashing open source, I love open source, it's probably more responsible than the Coca Cola Company for my successes in terms of hackery. As with all software however, open source will never be "finished." Evangelism is an important facet to the diamond in the rough that is open source, but it's not the most important part of the rock, the realization that imperfections exist and instead of meeting them with a stiff response of "well, that's just how it is, STFU." constructive criticisms should be welcomed along with change.Like all good after-school sitcoms, there's a moral to be put forth at the end of this episode. The greatest power of open source is the ability to change, and we should be able to accept some of the pinheaded things that have gone into some open source projects and realize that they should be changed. The status quo is comfortable, but it is never perfect.
[tags: opensource, gcc, plan9, apple, linux, freebsd]
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Wow, I think you completely missed my point...yes, I'm pretty sure I had a point.
This attitude of "you don't like it? fix it yourself" just doesn't work anymore. I can give back only so much, I can run around fixing everybody elses code in X.org, Debian's package manager, Ubuntu, OpenSSH, or anything else that has an level of suck, that's just impossible. I've contributed bits and pieces to projects like Mantis, MantisConnect, and I've done testing here and there for FreeBSD, and a couple other *BSD projects (ekko, and Mir).
You make the analogy to IE7 and Firefox, which I think is terribly inaccurate, proprietary competitors like Opera, the Omni Group, and to some extent Apple (with Safari) have helped push the edge of innovation. Don't get me wrong, Firefox is a great browser, but it is not the first to have tabs, extensions, etc. Yes, Firefox has helped push the browser community to improve, that does not mean in any way that Firefox should receive any sort of immunity from criticism.
I am a programmer, I do use open source every day, and I do try to fix it where I can (working on an OpenBSD NFS bug at the moment).
This attitude of "you don't like it? fix it yourself" just doesn't work anymore. I can give back only so much, I can run around fixing everybody elses code in X.org, Debian's package manager, Ubuntu, OpenSSH, or anything else that has an level of suck, that's just impossible. I've contributed bits and pieces to projects like Mantis, MantisConnect, and I've done testing here and there for FreeBSD, and a couple other *BSD projects (ekko, and Mir).
You make the analogy to IE7 and Firefox, which I think is terribly inaccurate, proprietary competitors like Opera, the Omni Group, and to some extent Apple (with Safari) have helped push the edge of innovation. Don't get me wrong, Firefox is a great browser, but it is not the first to have tabs, extensions, etc. Yes, Firefox has helped push the browser community to improve, that does not mean in any way that Firefox should receive any sort of immunity from criticism.
I am a programmer, I do use open source every day, and I do try to fix it where I can (working on an OpenBSD NFS bug at the moment).
"One of the largest short-comings of an open source operating system, is the X11/Xorg/XFree86 abomination."
Aaaaaa-men. It's the main thing that keeps me from trying to move to one of the new distributions. I have three - three! - HUGE O'Reilly books from back around 1917 or so, all just trying to explain how to write X Windows programs. I'm afraid you're right about its cockroachness, though.
Aaaaaa-men. It's the main thing that keeps me from trying to move to one of the new distributions. I have three - three! - HUGE O'Reilly books from back around 1917 or so, all just trying to explain how to write X Windows programs. I'm afraid you're right about its cockroachness, though.
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Today: I love open source
Yesterday: I still inevitably come to the conclusion "GAWD! OPEN SOURCE SUCKS!!!!"
Today: I am in no way bashing open source,
Why the flip flop, John Kerry-ness, about your posts? Stick to your guns, who cares if people get pissed. It's your opinion.
I don't have a problem with you bashing open source, I just don't think you're very fair. You bash X11/xorg/XFree86 and say that there are alternatives. You give Y-Windows as an example. How about a alternative that even compares to X(org/11/free86). You complain about package management in redhat/debian/freebsd but you don't offer any solution to the problem. You write "I feel that complete ignorance of a solution is usually the best way to form an opinion it seems, especially in regards to "open source."".
Open Source has a lot of benefits but the numero uno benefit(in my opinion) is that if Tyler Ballance wanted to, he could go help fix rpm/apt/dpkg/ports if he wanted to. How is that possible? Because it is open source. You can vi to your hearts content on that source code just like Linus Torvalds does on the linux kernel. When you're done, give it back to the open source community so someone can bitch about in a blog and then go improve it themselves. :)
I am not a programmer, just a wanna be, but I do admire people like you who do it for a living.
I agree with the "open source will never be finished" comment you made. I think it's a good thing though(well, sometimes). Software projects should be "living" and change with the times and technology. Imagine what IE7 would be if Firefox wasn't around to make MS think "Hey, we need to update/upgrade our shit". On the other hand, it's a bad thing because there are so many "dead/incomplete" projects on sourceforge due to inactivity/lack of interest from the developer/communtiy.
Anyways, keep up the programming, fix apt for Debian, and have a nice weekend.