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Path: sserve!manuel!munnari.oz.au!spool.mu.edu!yale.edu!yale!gumby!wupost!darwin.sura.net!dtix!mimsy!jds From: jds@cs.umd.edu (James da Silva) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd Subject: Re: Status of 386BSD 0.1 Message-ID: <58843@mimsy.umd.edu> Date: 14 Jul 92 21:44:38 GMT Article-I.D.: mimsy.58843 References: <13siv6INN1cj@agate.berkeley.edu> <58775@mimsy.umd.edu> <13v74tINNdni@agate.berkeley.edu> Sender: news@mimsy.umd.edu Organization: University of Maryland, Department of Computer Science Lines: 72 I wrote: >>cgd@agate.berkeley.edu (Chris G. Demetriou) writes: >>>Now it's a matter of killing the last of the show-stoppers, and >>>getting it out the door... >> >>Actually, it looks like a classic case of having to kill the engineer to >>get it out the door. (as the saying goes :-) >> >>Bill, let your baby go. Look at it this way, you're not releasing an >>alpha-quality system, you're gaining 1000 beta-testers. :-) wjolitz@soda.berkeley.edu (William F. Jolitz) writes: >Lynne Jolitz responds (somewhat tongue-in-cheek) :-): > > [very acidic, sarcastic response as Lynne lets off some steam] Sigh. You have misunderstood my message, Lynne. Let me explain: the expression "we'll have to kill the engineer to get the product out the door" does not imply any animosity towards the engineer. On the contrary, it means that he/she is a perfectionist and will resist releasing the product indefinitely because there is always one more bug to fix or enhancement to make. Thus my second paragraph, which says that instead of worrying about every last bug, you could take advantage of all the people on the net who would be willing to give 386BSD a spin, bugs and all, and who may provide valuable bug fixes and enhancements to accelerate the maturity of 386BSD. Now that I've explained my poor wit at greater length, I hope you see that my note was intended as sympathetic and encouraging, not disparaging or critical. That having been said, I'll let off some of steam of my own: First, I (and I suspect others) have trouble understanding why you would wish to make 0.1 perfect. Holding onto it for so long just makes more work for you and stagnates external contributions, as everyone else is holding their breath (and their tapes) wondering if this or that is fixed or added in 0.1, which after all is coming out any day now. Compare and contrast the traffic here with that in comp.os.linux, which is bursting at the seams with a seemingly exponential number of contributions. Second, why must you respond to every little criticism (real, or in the my case, misconstrued) with propaganda about how wonderful you are and invective about how injured you are? Give us a break, please. Many, many people have contributed software to the world; even I have. You are not the first, and you will not be the last. Larry Wall, Linus Torvalds and Bruce Evans, to name just a few that come immediately to mind, have all burned a lot of midnight oil to make significant contributions to the world of free software, yet they seem able to greet the day with good humor and to shrug off criticisms. No one has asked you to give up your life for this project. If it is really driving you to the point where it is no longer fun, has brought you to financial ruin, is affecting your children and family life, then for your own sakes, STOP! Given your knee-jerk reactions to several postings here, I suspect your nerves _are_ frayed to the breaking. Either release the software as is or just put it aside, and go home and hug your kids. Take them on a vacation. Do _something_ different. I really do mean this in a sympathetic and supportive manner. Writing free software should be done for the fun of it, and for the satisfaction of knowing you have done something that is useful to others. I know I have enjoyed (and continue to enjoy) my tiny contributions. If you are doing it because you have a chip on your shoulder, or because you are expecting glory and undying gratitude, you are doing it for the wrong reasons. Cheers and good luck in all your endeavors, Jaime ............................................................................. : Stand on my shoulders, : jds@cs.umd.edu : James da Silva : not on my toes. : uunet!mimsy!jds : Systems Design & Analysis Group