The sorry state of open source today...or at least that what he says

[karellen]

if you have the patience to read the long article maybe you'll find it interesting maybe a little
http://www.thejemreport.com/mambo/content/view/309/122/

[mykalreborn]

written by a romanian or wasn't i paying attention? :D
i'll read it later. i love all this phylosophical talks about open-source. :D

[karellen]

yeap...:D (m-a surprins un pic asta, ce-i drept)

[christhemonkey]

Wow that took a chuffing long time to read...

And it just makes me feel depressed about the state of open source software, it cant be all that bad can it?

[karellen]

when I look at the new upcoming releases like feisty fawn or fedora 7 or opensuse 10.3 I definitely feel the situation it's not that hopeless. not at all :)

[argie]

It's a bit odd. He goes around stating how Open Source is about choice and then blasts distros that do not match his expectations as to how a Linux (or unix-like) system should be. I mean, I don't run an OpenGL window manager myself, but to jump on Compiz for being unnecessary eye candy is ridiculous when it can be turned off.

Also, I'm not sure I like his aversion to computer users that aren't particularly proficient at computers.

[Rhapsody]

One thing I noticed is that he said contradictions are inherent in life when arguing against software patents, but then argued against the GPL because he said the restrictions in it made it contradictory with its aim of freedom.

Additionally, I'd say both the GPL and BSD-style licences have their own contradictions. The GPL imposes restrictions in the name of freedom, while the BSD-style licences give other people the freedom to impose restrictions on their derivative works. So the GPL can be said to be 'non-free' to begin with, but the BSD-style licences will inevitably lead to non-free works anyway in the real world.

In an ideal world, we'd all use the revised BSD licence and everything would be fine. But this isn't a perfect world, we know there are people who will leech off free/open source software by not giving anything back if given half a chance, so the GPL is necessary as things are. Additionally, software patents are a threat, he notes this, and the biggest free software licence in the world really needs to be patent-aware if free software is going to stick around in any meaningful sense of the word.

Nothing's perfect, but I still think the GPLv3 will be the free software licence for our time when it's finished.

[rai4shu2]

It definitely starts out strong, but I think the author jumped the shark there trying to scare people about software patents. I give his essay a B-.

In my opinion, software patents will have roughly the same effect as Domitian's edict regarding wine fields in Italy (i.e. virtually none).

[DoctorMO]

This guy decided to rant out because he feels incompetent about his own failure to use open source software.

It's still the best damn software production model out there and isn't going anywhere for a long time.

[tbroderick]

This guy decided to rant out because he feels incompetent about his own failure to use open source software.

Did you read the article? First sentence, "I have been using open source software since the beginning of 1995"


It's still the best damn software production model out there and isn't going anywhere for a long time.

"Criticizing the sorry state of the open source today does not mean closed source is better. Also, the current status of the open-source projects is not bad per se, but only if we put side by side the expectations we had a decade ago with the reality we are facing now."

I think he has some spot on criticisms. Why is 2.6.16 being maintained/stabilized when RHEL5 and Etch are using 2.6.18? The whole PATA/SATA kernel change with 2.6.20 was/is confusing for a lot of people. I'm also not a big fan of Mono and don't think any Mono apps should be apart of GNOME. And I also agree on his points about Bery, but I'm a dwm user anyways. :)

[tbroderick]

I should also point out his blog;

http://beranger.org/

[mykalreborn]

it sure was hard to read through the whole article. it took me about an hour or so. :D

my impressions on this article:

the guy knows what he's talking about. i've never read an article for which i had to resort to wikipedia (and gnome dictionary - shame on me) so many times. he is indeed well documented, but on the other hand this just makes him too much of a linux zealot.

i really don't agree with him talking about ubuntu and it's community like talking about some parasite of the linux world. i also do not agree that linux should only be used by advanced l33t users who were born computer-literates. i agree with slackware being used by tech-oriented users, but not with the whole of linux.

i do however share his opinion on the root user being disabled in freespire. that is a very stupid thing and it can only lead to the vulnerability windows now experiences in Freespire or Turbolinux. but i'm sure this won't ever be something of a trend in the other distros, and his apocalyptical prophecies that half of the linux distros will have the root password disabled by default is just fud and i'm sure it's something not even he believes in. just look at mac os x. it's for users with almost no computing experience, and it still asks for the password when you do a sytem upgrade.

he is looking at this from a much to commercial stand-point. linux and software in general hasn't been made exclusively (or mainly) for the enterprise user for some time now (correct me if i'm wrong), and the home desktop user is as important as the office user. therefore he should have addressed all the problems of open-source from a more balanced view-point. for example his view about compiz or beryl is simply closed-mindess. some people simply DO preffer to have their desktops full of aesthetic effects which are pleasing to the eye - even if they're not the most productive, because even if he likes it or not, not everyone is a busy business man who must check his evolution calendar every 5 minutes to know what meetings he has planned. some people just use thunderbird or gmailchecker, you know. :p

he does raise some good points, such as the stupidity of patenting software - which are nothing more than mathematical thoughts imho - or holding the end-user liable for not verifying patent violations.

all in all he does nothing to help the open-source community to escape from this sorry state it's in right now. it is one thing to point out some flaws in an objective and constructive manner, but it is another to write a 20 page essay which revolves around his disagreeing with the GPL license and which doesn't actually present the decayed community with solutions out of their problems.

funny that at the end he says he wrote the article on a kubuntu and on a pardus system, after almost accusing the two for the destruction of Linux before. you might think that he was testing the two systems, but then he goes ahead saying that we're all humans after all. this brings only one word in my mind: hypocrisy.

and it's funny to note that he keeps going on and on about how GPL is restrictive and about the freedom software should have, but at the end of the article you see this:"Copyright 2007 Radu-Cristian Fotescu and JEM Electronic Media, Inc. No reprints nor reposts without written permission from both copyright holders."


if we would just start seeing the forest from the trees for a minute i'm sure we would all be in a totally different world...

edit: despite all this, it really was an interesting read. and i'll probably subscribe to his blog. it's a challenge in a way. :D

[floke]

Anyone know why the page won't open in firefox?
Am currently reading it in Opera.

[mykalreborn]

Anyone know why the page won't open in firefox?
Am currently reading it in Opera.
works for me. i have firefox 2.0.0.3 on feisty. it took longer to load than epiphany did. funny since they both use gecko.

[mech7]

I can't see it either? he runs opensource cms though. mambo ;)

[PhatStreet]

I think that he raises a lot of valid points, but many of those only apply to some distros, and I don't think that it's fair to give the entire OSS community a "sorry" label. Still, I think that this was a good read, and like I said, he does have a lot of good points. I can especially agree with the whole subject of Beryl/Compiz/etc. I've just never seen much functionality come from it.

[blastus]

The author doesn't seem to understand that there is good and bad open source software just like there is good and bad closed source software. The article is not very cohesive and goes off on tangents with facts injected here, there, and everywhere to support a generalization that no one understands. I'm not disputing the man's facts, I'm disputing his conclusions.


In a few years, on public request, half of the 500+ Linux distros will have the security features perverted.

It's statements like the above that discredit the author IMO. Even if true it doesn't mean anything. It just means that half of the Linux distributions out there implement good security practices and half don't. So what?

[ceil420]

I agreed with some of what he wrote, but some of it was sensationalist ********. Like the poster above me pointed out, I doubt that "half the 500+ distros" will follow suit in ****-poor security of the one 'nobody' distro he criticized, and who's name I've already forgotten (six letters? starts with a P?).

Still, it was a good read, and many points were relevant. Linux does need to be linux and not worry about Micro$oft. It's not like they developed it for profit in the first place. And a set of standards would be groovie.

[matthekc]

the first distro i used in my short time with linux was a late 2005 model and i can honestly say that 2 years or so later things are noticeably better across most the distros i have tried recently.

not to say i have been using linux 2 years only about a year and a half

[floke]

I liked his complaint about Beryl/Compiz impeding functionality - the main example of which was his refresh rate in playing 3D games :)

[mykalreborn]

http://beranger.org/index.php?article=2828&from=rss
and his thoughts on the ubuntu magazine. not too many... :-k
:D

[darrenm]

I couldn't be without Beryl/compiz now. I'm far more productive at work being able to see a few terminals at once. When coding and copying some examples from e-books I have to be able to see through the terminal otherwise I'm continually ALT-tabbing. I can see that Beryl/Compiz wouldn't help much if someone only ever does web browsing and reading email (apart from the nice shadows and effects)

[deathbyswiftwind]

I will have to say this guy kinda pisses me off. Some of the points he makes I do believe are valid. Some are wrong and others are just.... well he was being an idiot with some of it.

The Novell and Microsoft Thing. Thats practically signing a deal with the devil IMPO. Anytime Microsoft would like to sue me for it Im game. They would have to disclose their source code and provide source code for whatever I suppose infringe on. I dont see that happening.

The Hurd mention I think was out of line. I personally wouldnt use it if they brought it out. Im happy where I am already. But does anyone here think this this guy could do a better job than them? I sure dont. No matter how small a program(or other) is I dont ever think its right to bash anyone. Yeah it may have its flaws or be buggy but unless your going to give constructive feedback to the author to better his code and improve on it for everyone SHUT UP!

The sudo thing - Dumb move to disable or half enable it or however you wonna say it. There isnt many threats to linux but by running in a partial admin mode at all times Im sure there will be more.

2.6 Kernel - Is anything really "stable" when going for advancement. We all have breakage. Anyone here who is an alpha or beta or hell even RC tester can tell you that.

I could go on and on but I will leave it at this. We are a linux community. Our distro while it might crash or give us a headache now and then never fails us. Our great programmers who donate time give us some wonderful programs. I think if more of the world would have the philosophy of "share with your neighbor" we might just be able to jump the hurdles we have today.

[joeca0304]

I've been reading his blog for the past week or two. There seems to be one theme ingrained in everything he writes.

The GPL sucks and BSD is a godsend. He more or less attempts to sneak this into the majority of his articles, then frequently attacks those who post comments responding to his blog articles.

No matter what valid points he makes, I've found him to be overly aggressive and insulting, therefore on the occasion he does have a good point, he typically posts something equally wrong/offensive lines later negating any value I find in his commentary.