*BSD News Article 47497


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From: Matthew Jason White <mwhite+@CMU.EDU>
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: The Future of FreeBSD...
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 12:47:29 -0400
Organization: Junior, Math/Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
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Excerpts from netnews.comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc: 21-Jul-95 Re: The
Future of FreeBSD... by Ken Nakata@er6.rutgers.e 
> Take a look at NetBSD source tree.  What you're saying isn't intrinsic
> to microkernel architecture.

No, there have always been those who port each new version of a software
to multiple systems.  The fun thing about microkernels is that this
becomes no longer necessary.  The cut in development time will
eventually justify the lessened performance in the same way that C
replaced assembly (at the time, C was significantly slower...today I
suspect that optimizing compilers make the opposite true on some
architectures).

>  
> >Instead of large numbers of mediocre programmers producing huge
> >amounts of mediocre code (as many firms seem to do), we have a small
> >number of excellent programmers producing a smaller, but
> >functionally equivelant, amount of excellent code.
>  
> How do you guarantee the quality of programmers?  What if you end
> up with small number of mediocre programmers?  It has nothing to do
> with microkernel architecture.

That's a management problem.  The fact is, one version of a piece of
software is less time consuming to maintain than twelve.  For many
corporations today, it simply is not an option to pay extra for the
really topnotch programmers because they need extra people to do ports. 
If you aren't porting significantly, then you can shell out for better
programmers in few numbers.

How do you insure excellent programmers?  If they suck, fire them.  Or
better yet, do a good job checking references.


-Matt