Re: <nettime> OFSS01: First Orbiten Free Software Survey

["Benjamin Geer" <benjamin.geer@btinternet.com>]

On Wed, May 17, 2000 at 03:01:15PM +0530, Rishab Aiyer Ghosh wrote:
> as for ideas and other less well-defined forms of interaction, one
> can say the same of _real-world_ "cathedralesque" development teams,
> e.g. at microsoft, who certainly have a lot of useful interaction
> with other developers outside.

Useful perhaps, but very different in character, in one crucial
respect.  The Windows NT development team is under a legal obligation
not to show the NT source code to their friends outside Microsoft.
But I can read the Linux source code without having to ask anyone.  In
fact, I've learned a lot about operating systems by reading it.  The
need for programmers to read other programmers' code is one of the
main reasons why Richard Stallman started the Free Software
Foundation.  In the open-source world, it is the main way that
newcomers learn the state of the art, enabling them to participate in
open-source projects or to start their own.

Benjamin Geer
http://www.btinternet.com/~amisuk/bg

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