Return to BSD News archive
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.misc Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!bert.eecs.uic.edu!zmola From: zmola@bert.eecs.uic.edu (Carl Zmola) Subject: Re: 386BSD Participation Message-ID: <1993Jun25.145818.13457@bert.eecs.uic.edu> Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago References: <1993Jun25.140526.1385@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov> Date: Fri, 25 Jun 1993 14:58:18 GMT Lines: 77 kaleb@octopus (Kaleb Keithley) writes: >Press 'n' now to avoid more mindless drivel :-) Good advice, I wish I had taken it. >conklin@kaleida.com (J.T. Conklin) writes: >>bj> The "greed" battle for control, or "cold" war begins. 386bsd >>bj> florishes, as real people finally get a chance to participate with >>bj> BSD, something they have waited for ten years for. >> >>I don't see that anyone has had a chance to participate. I am sure >>that lots of people have contributed their work to you, but that is >>not the same as _participation_. >> >I agree with J.T. It seems like the vast majority of "us" weren't "real" >enough to participate. My fledgling attempts to participate were met with >official silence, and unofficial flames from self-important nobodies and >thinly veiled threats. Life's too short to put up with that, and I've got >other things to do too, so if it seems like I didn't try very hard, you're >absolutely right. Managing a software project is difficult, especially if you don't know the capabilities of your contributers before hand. 386BSD has always been a closed door product. "you contribute your code, and if we can use it, we will". I like this approach. For me it gives me some stability (even if there are some bugs), as opposed to Linux or other systems where there is a patch a week. >If 386BSD is a truly public effort, the coordinators need to make the time >in their busy schedules to do some coordinating. A simple 'yes we need that, >and no one is currently working on it' or 'no, someone else is already on >it, contact them' would suffice. If it's a club, and only members are >allowed to participate, then at least you could have made that clear at >the outset. I really hope that Bill Jolitz was more polite then you make him out to be, and I also hope you didn't nag him to death. I've known friendly systems people (enter your favorite campus support person here) who would chew your head off if you ask for something to be done in less then two days. No one is perfect, but there is no reason to flame on the net. If you don't like it, use a different system. >It's certainly admirable to release software like 386BSD into the domain >of freely redistributable software. But let's cut through the altruistic >bullshit -- you're being handsomely rewarded for your efforts, both tangibly >and intangibly. DDJ pays for the articles they print. I'd wager the publisher >of "the book" ponied up a healthy advance. Are you counting your royalties >yet -- I doubt you'll be selling as many copies as Jurassic Park? And to >top it all off, you have your place in the sun along with Stallman and >Torvalds. Everyone has to make a living, and Giving away your programming time usually doesn't cut it. >If you want to cry in your beer in the corner of a bar somewhere, that's >your priviledge and your business. If you want to whine in public about >some wrong that someone has done to you, real or imagined, then take your >snivel rag and go home, because we don't want to hear it. On the same note, don't expect red carpet treatment, or to even be acknowledged. People are busy, and some people are especially busy. It would be nice if they could be courteous, but they have no obligation to. Carl Zmola@cicero.spc.uchicago.edu