Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2001 11:57:18 -0700 (MST) From: Nate Williams <nate@yogotech.com> To: Jordan Hubbard <jkh@osd.bsdi.com> Cc: nate@yogotech.com, asmodai@wxs.nl, cvs-committers@FreeBSD.org, cvs-all@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: The Project and onward [was: Re: cvs commit: src/sys/netinet ip_output.c] Message-ID: <15023.48910.778438.228247@nomad.yogotech.com> In-Reply-To: <20010314104836N.jkh@osd.bsdi.com> References: <20010313104243.B60817@daemon.ninth-circle.org> <20010313131934K.jkh@osd.bsdi.com> <15023.42384.196115.528084@nomad.yogotech.com> <20010314104836N.jkh@osd.bsdi.com>
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> > Ahh, then we can be called Microsoft, because our software continually
> > grows, with no direction.
>
> Heh, I think invoking the spectre of Microsoft in support of a weak
> argument has become the geek equivalent of Godwin's Law. :) ("Hitler!")
>
> We're not the authors of this software, we're just the current
> custodians
Any of the things that make FreeBSD 'better' than any of the other
offerings is new software created by FreeBSD committers. The stuff
we're custodians make us 'also-rans'.
> and a lot of the "technical guidelines" which discourage truly
> directionless development were already set in place 25 years ago. As
> far as I can see, everything we've done over the last 9 years has been
> incremental development within the scope of those guidelines and not a
> function of some brilliant group of strategists who've since departed
> the project.
Again, we can agree to disagree. The parts of FreeBSD that set us apart
from the other OS's are submissions by brilliant coders and visionaries,
many of whom are no longer as active as they once were.
> Our strategy has never been anything more "brilliant" than fixing
> bugs, updating tools, writing drivers for new hardware as it appeared
> and with a very occasional foray into truly new ground with things
> like netgraph (which could also be argued to be more evolutionary than
> revolutionary).
Or the VM system, or the easier install tools, or the pors system, or
SMPng, or real-working shared libraries, etc....
If all we're doing is re-packing existing stuff, then we may as well
close up shop and go away, since there are plenty of folks who can
re-package or add the occasional driver.
This is not in any way to minimize that work at all. Having a truly
great kernel that works on 1% of the available hardware puts us in the
same class as many other failed projects, but what makes FreeBSD
'special' is the value-added features that make us 'better' than the
other OS's.
So, we have to not only 'keep up' with the Jones's in terms of new
drivers for new tools, fixing bugs, and such, but also 'push the
envelope' on new technology (threaded kernels, scaling, etc...)
Nate
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