Posted by: Administrator
on April 21, 2007 05:54 PM
A shiny new alternative to lilo and grub. A step backwards for GNU/Linux.
As someone already said, Lilo and Grub already work pretty well, so nobody really needs this. But what's the harm in offering another choice?
Here's the harm.
Suppose a newbie asks you, a "Linux expert", to help him/her with a problem. You go to the newbie's machine and find that the problem is with the boot process. You know Grub inside out and you know a bit about Lilo<nobr> <wbr></nobr>... but the newbie is using the Mickey bootloader or the Froboz boot loader<nobr> <wbr></nobr>... "Sorry, can't help"<nobr> <wbr></nobr>... and another frustrated newbie goes back to Windows.
GNU/Linux needs fewer redundant applications, and many of the applications it has need to be properly finished to a professional standard. But it's much more fun to start a new project than to help finish someone else's. It's a big weakness, folks, and I think the way to deal with it is to greet every redundant new project with a Bronx cheer.
Giving a lot more kudos and recognition to people who help with existing projects would help, too, if we could figure out a way to do that. A start would be for Linux.com to stop publishing articles about a "new" XYZ and start publishing articles like "Joe Smith contributes bug fixes to ABC project", telling us that ABC is now a lot more usable because Joe has fixed bugs that the original author couldn't.
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Redundant New Projects Considered Harmful
Posted by: Administrator on April 21, 2007 05:54 PMA shiny new alternative to lilo and grub. A step backwards for GNU/Linux.
As someone already said, Lilo and Grub already work pretty well, so nobody really needs this. But what's the harm in offering another choice?
Here's the harm.
Suppose a newbie asks you, a "Linux expert", to help him/her with a problem. You go to the newbie's machine and find that the problem is with the boot process. You know Grub inside out and you know a bit about Lilo<nobr> <wbr></nobr>... but the newbie is using the Mickey bootloader or the Froboz boot loader<nobr> <wbr></nobr>... "Sorry, can't help"<nobr> <wbr></nobr>... and another frustrated newbie goes back to Windows.
GNU/Linux needs fewer redundant applications, and many of the applications it has need to be properly finished to a professional standard. But it's much more fun to start a new project than to help finish someone else's. It's a big weakness, folks, and I think the way to deal with it is to greet every redundant new project with a Bronx cheer.
Giving a lot more kudos and recognition to people who help with existing projects would help, too, if we could figure out a way to do that. A start would be for Linux.com to stop publishing articles about a "new" XYZ and start publishing articles like "Joe Smith contributes bug fixes to ABC project", telling us that ABC is now a lot more usable because Joe has fixed bugs that the original author couldn't.
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