Posted by: Administrator
on February 25, 2007 04:13 AM
Mr. Eric Raymond writes from frustration, not from jealousy or anger. Don't attack him, In my eyes he is a victim of what ails linux, and Fedora.
My predominant use of Fedora is as a desktop system user and as a web developer. I am constantly in fear that the next patch will break the system, thus I only accept patches for neutral software (software updates to non-mainstream programs). My raison d'être is that there is a rush to implement new features on new hardware, with new developers. Too much "New New New".
With Fedora Core4 (when I started), there were "N" modules (with a potential for N x N interactions), no virtualisation, and no fancy GUI extensions. Also, in the majority, linux hosts were single processors, with small drives.
With the cost of hardware being 1/3 of what it used to be, with a ten fold increase in processing power, with the number of modules increasing from "N" to "N + 200", we are looking at a N squared growth in interactions, coupled with the multiplicity of hardware platforms. And we are also clamoring for new releases every 6 months. How can one keep up in all areas and mainly, in testing with many many extra interactions, and with no increase in the time between version releases. In my view, that six month window is too small, and should be extended to 9 months, or annually. Just so that adequate testing and maintenance can prove the quality.
I also sympathise with Mr Raymond. In my office, and at home, my email attachments have "linux forbidden" formats and also, the internet sites I visit have multimedia formats that are not officially supported. So if I have to use XP or its descendents for viewing them, why in fact, bother with linux.
Eric's thoughts are that the Red Hat company are doing what IBM has done with OS/2, they are abandoning the home market, a market of more than a billion computers, and for what? In his view, and as of today, I agree with him. In my view, Red Hat/Fedora don't see the market. Mr Raymond wants to be using a distribution that is more responsive to the man on the street. I think that the switch by mainstream linux users to UBUNTU has already happened.
Let me close with the following observation: I went to a Montreal Computer club meeting this past week. The majority of the attendees came with laptops. When we went around the room, 90% were running UBUNTU, myself and another had Fedora, and then there was two other distributions in use. It is not yum, rpm, or yumex that is the problem. Why did they not try Fedora? Some answered that it is package distribution and module/library collisions, without a inforced standard such as a well documented package installer and rollback facility.
Eric, good luck in your new endevors. I am sure that tomorrow, the sun will rise for you and for your critics. And who knows, you could be one of those who dual boots to different linux versions, one of which could still be Fedora.
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Re:ESR - professional blowhard
Posted by: Administrator on February 25, 2007 04:13 AMMy predominant use of Fedora is as a desktop system user and as a web developer. I am constantly in fear that the next patch will break the system, thus I only accept patches for neutral software (software updates to non-mainstream programs). My raison d'être is that there is a rush to implement new features on new hardware, with new developers. Too much "New New New".
With Fedora Core4 (when I started), there were "N" modules (with a potential for N x N interactions), no virtualisation, and no fancy GUI extensions. Also, in the majority, linux hosts were single processors, with small drives.
With the cost of hardware being 1/3 of what it used to be, with a ten fold increase in processing power, with the number of modules increasing from "N" to "N + 200", we are looking at a N squared growth in interactions, coupled with the multiplicity of hardware platforms. And we are also clamoring for new releases every 6 months. How can one keep up in all areas and mainly, in testing with many many extra interactions, and with no increase in the time between version releases. In my view, that six month window is too small, and should be extended to 9 months, or annually. Just so that adequate testing and maintenance can prove the quality.
I also sympathise with Mr Raymond. In my office, and at home, my email attachments have "linux forbidden" formats and also, the internet sites I visit have multimedia formats that are not officially supported. So if I have to use XP or its descendents for viewing them, why in fact, bother with linux.
Eric's thoughts are that the Red Hat company are doing what IBM has done with OS/2, they are abandoning the home market, a market of more than a billion computers, and for what? In his view, and as of today, I agree with him. In my view, Red Hat/Fedora don't see the market. Mr Raymond wants to be using a distribution that is more responsive to the man on the street. I think that the switch by mainstream linux users to UBUNTU has already happened.
Let me close with the following observation:
I went to a Montreal Computer club meeting this past week. The majority of the attendees came with laptops. When we went around the room, 90% were running UBUNTU, myself and another had Fedora, and then there was two other distributions in use. It is not yum, rpm, or yumex that is the problem. Why did they not try Fedora? Some answered that it is package distribution and module/library collisions, without a inforced standard such as a well documented package installer and rollback facility.
Eric, good luck in your new endevors. I am sure that tomorrow, the sun will rise for you and for your critics. And who knows, you could be one of those who dual boots to different linux versions, one of which could still be Fedora.
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