> > Are you telling me that hundreds, if not thousands of people have contributed
> > code to the Linux kernel ? How many of them could fix a problem with (say)
> > virtual memory or debug an obscure SMP problem ? The weight of numbers maybe
> > comforting, but expertise in any particular part may be limited to a handful
> > of people.
> Are you telling me that you believe the people capable of fixing a
> problem with, say, virtual memory handling or SMP in, say, Unixware,
> SCO 3.2.x or even SCO OS5 still work there? And even if they do that
> they are in a position to be allocated to a support problem without
> weeks, if not months, of polictally maneouvering and job rescheduling?
> The same arguments apply to the commercial side. The real question
> is, do the right people have the source and can they be bought at
> short enough order to fix your problem in a timely fashion?
Now there IS an interesting point. When I was working on some
device drivers for Solaris I ran into some bizantine mutex lock problems
in the streams queues. Since this was a project Sun was VERY interested
in, I was put in contact with one of their kernel experts. We corresponded
off and on for a couple of years on kernel and device driver issues. The
answer to the question is... No... She does not work for Sun any longer.
If I had similar problems now with Sun, I would have to start all over
developing new contacts.
:
:
:
> Sometimes anarchy works out better than a dictatorship. Remember,
> companies aren't there to provide support. They are trying to make
> money for their directors and shareholders by selling you a contract
> and then fulfilling their obligations under it for minimal overhead.
> This is not necessarily bad. The saying, "You get what you pay for"
> applies. But that doesn't say anything about what happens when you
> aren't paying. As your CEO/Managing Director will probably tell
> you, when you want things to happen it's who you know not how much
> you pay that turns the wheels the fastest. Tell them that not only
> can you offer full access to the source but can also give them a
> direct line to the guys that wrote the code for the price of a few
> beers on expenses and you're talking their language :-).
Another issue in that vein... Everyone I know who has had extensive
experience in both "commercial" software sources and publicly available
sources agrees that the publicly available sources tend to be higher
quality. In commercial software, the presures described above often result
in rushed jobs just to meet marketing deadlines. Code reviews are few
and scant. You write code and maybe a few other people will ever see it.
You don't need to comment it and your boss would consider too much effort
in documenting the code to be a waste of precious time (especially when
his impossible schedule timeline has already slipped two weeks). Freeware
code gets viewed by EVERYBODY! You want it to be something you are personally
proud of. Your personal reputation is on that code and sometimes people
remember you for your coding style (or lack there of). There is incentive
there to write good code that just does not exist in commercial software,
and it lacks the pressures to cheat and write quick bad code.
> Mike
> --
> .----------------------------------------------------------------------.
> | Mike Jagdis | Internet: mailto:mike@roan.co.uk |
> | Roan Technology Ltd. | |
> | 54A Peach Street, Wokingham | Telephone: +44 118 989 0403 |
> | RG40 1XG, ENGLAND | Fax: +44 118 989 1195 |
> `----------------------------------------------------------------------'
Mike
-- Michael H. Warfield | (770) 985-6132 | mhw@WittsEnd.com (The Mad Wizard) | (770) 925-8248 | http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/ NIC whois: MHW9 | An optimist believes we live in the best of all PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471 | possible worlds. A pessimist is sure of it!