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From: chuck@ccrc.wustl.edu (Chuck Cranor)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.networking,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: TCP latency
Followup-To: comp.os.linux.networking,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Date: 15 Jul 1996 18:09:34 -0500
Organization: Washington University, St. Louis MO.
Lines: 78
Message-ID: <4sej3e$155@dworkin.wustl.edu>
References: <4paedl$4bm@engnews2.eng.sun.com> <4s7jsd$blf@fido.asd.sgi.com> <31E7B8A5.41C67EA6@dyson.iquest.net> <4s8rtp$jsh@fido.asd.sgi.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: dworkin.wustl.edu
Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.networking:45346 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:23682
In article <4s8rtp$jsh@fido.asd.sgi.com>,
Larry McVoy <lm@slovax.engr.sgi.com> wrote:
>"A mind is a terrible thing to waste." I felt then, and feel now, that
>working on *BSD is basically a waste of time.
If people are having fun and enjoying working on a project (be it BSD,
Linux, or whatever) who are you to judge? That is an extremely arrogant
position for you to take.
>My point of view on this extends to the other smart & productive people
>working on the various BSD fractions. I feel that it is self defeating
>to have BSDI, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and 386BSD out there.
I disagree with you. I also believe you are discounting the cooperation
which exists between the various BSD groups, and ignoring the parallel
issue of the large number of Linux distributions.
>Isn't it obvious at this point that Linux is doing a much better job of
>keeping the crowd of people focussed on the technology instead of the
>personalities?
No, it isn't obvious to me. And even if it was obvious to me, I would
still assert that given your lack of recent involvement with the BSDs
you are not qualified to make such a statement (except out of ignorance).
>Is it really worthwhile to have these arguments? Wouldn't it be better
>if we were all working on the same thing, making one OS the best? Instead
>of arguing that your variant is better than their variant?
No, I don't think it would be better if we were all working on the same
thing. I don't even think it is possible due to logistical, political,
and philosophical differences. Also, people tend to generally like having
alternatives to choose from. Why should that be taken away?
>When are you going to realize that my bias towards Linux is because of
>the fact that Linux is constantly drawing more people towards itself,
>while *BSD is constantly driving people away?
First, I don't accept your "fact" as a fact. In other words, I don't
think you are in a position to accurately gage whether or not *BSD is
"constantly" driving people away.
Second, based on your past statements, I believe your bias towards Linux
is because of the fact that Linux is covered by the GPL, rather than the
BSD copyright. More than once you've expressed fear that someone will
attempt to take BSD code "private" and that you feel that the GPL is the
way to prevent and protect yourself from this. I fully believe, based
on your past statements, that you would favor a GPL'd OS over a non-GPL'd
OS no matter what the performance ("we can make it better") or how many
people the GPL'd OS was drawing.
Thus, I believe you have intentionally misrepresented your position as
to the source of your pro-linux bias in order to make a gratuitous attack
on everyone working on *BSD.
>The cool part about Linux is that there are no arguments like this. This
>sort of time waster is a BSD idiosyncrasy, one that is a major bummer.
The fact that you've contributed your half to this argument invalidates
your statement.
As far as I am concerned, the major bummer is when people try and simplify
the free OS world into a simple "us vs. them, we must win -- and if you
don't agree with us you are wasting your time" type scenario. As long
as you are having fun and are happy with your work, it shouldn't matter
what OS you are working on.
chuck
--
>>Chuck Cranor, Graduate Student, Computer and Communications Research Center<<
>>Washington University, St. Louis MO http://www.ccrc.wustl.edu/pub/chuck <<
... help! my wife has accepted a job with at&t research in new jersey and
now i've got to find a job in new jersey too ...