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From: Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org>
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Linux vs. FreeBSD ...
Date: Thu, 16 May 1996 18:53:15 -0700
Organization: Me
Lines: 46
Message-ID: <319BDC0B.75DDA671@lambert.org>
References: <3188C1E2.45AE@onramp.net> <318FD68B.60AD12F6@lambert.org> <4mouan$cpb@agate.berkeley.edu> <4mpch5$97t@ennui.ops.best.com> <4mplph$n1s@agate.berkeley.edu> <319165C5.58D1E2F7@lambert.org> <4n9u6q$ien@news.siemens.at>
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Ingo Molnar wrote:
] Terry Lambert (terry@lambert.org) wrote:
]
] : But if no one returns the hardware, how will the vendor of the
] : hardware ever be punished for producing crappy hardware so as
] : to disincent them from making their next hardware crappy as well?
]
] you can "punish" vendors if you have market share. But nor FreeBSD,
] nor Linux has real market share. So both have to "go with the tide",
] supporting broken hardware, fight against NDAs and implementing bad
] APIs, to balance the missing market share.
You used "the tide analogy"; I will respond with "the open door
analogy":
The door must be kept open... but there is a distinction to be
drawn between "unlatched" and "unhinged".
] no, no. Linux/FreeBSD doesnt need "success", in the economical
] sense. It needs "beta testers", and beta testers have bad CDROMs :)
]
] "Any working code is inherently better than any non working code",
] hmmm, who wrote this? :)
I did; it is yet another restatement of my favorite maxim, Occam's
Razor.
Note that replacing "code" with "hardware" renders the statement
no less valid.
Hack drivers will not render bad hardware good. Bad hardware
is bad, independent of whether or not there are hack drivers
for it.
Making bad hardware run does not ennoble hack drivers. Hack
drivers are bad, independent of whether or not they cause bad
hardware to function.
Terry Lambert
terry@lambert.org
---
Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present
or previous employers.