Re: [NTLK] Open Sourcing ATA Support

From: Paul Guyot (pguyot_at_kallisys.net)
Date: Tue Oct 23 2001 - 01:29:22 EDT


>Look Paul, we were discussing you open sourcing the driver in exchange
>for prepayments/donations.

Yes, you're right, I forgot this point in the discussion.

>Another user could have a blinding-flash-of-the-obvious and solve
>something or contribute advice that you are stuck on. Overall there
>could be a gain in available time.

You're also right here. All I have said so far is that for this
situation to occur, I need first to make it available (by that I mean
explaining how it works and so on). I think that in the end I'll lose
time, but you might disagree (and like you I consider the discussion
as closed).

>I like and use an open source platform on my servers and workstations. I
>value my user freedoms. I would value being able to use an open source
>driver and not have licensing restrictions, protection checks and
>hardware locks. And I was prepared to pay for this freedom and help
>promote a way you could be paid as well. You are not interested. Fine (I
>just made an off-list suggestion that you were welcome to discuss with
>the wider community if you were interested. You did. It's over). But
>please don't call my values propaganda.

Wait. It's not your values I called propaganda, it's the expression
"open" used in such a meaningless way "open development platform".
But maybe it's because I don't understand what it means (well, if it
just means that the development tool is open sourced - (a) it's not
totally, you need a java compiler and (b) I still can't see the
interest compared to freeware *in the case of Waba*).
I can truly see the interest of open sourced operating systems and
nevertheless, I chose a closed source operating system as my desktop
and PDA OSes (it will very probably change for my desktop OS, though).
What I call propaganda is using the word "open" to mean that there is
a higher value of the product. I disagree with that, there are *also*
cons of being open source (for the users & for the developers), and
for a Waba developer (ignorant of NewtonScript and C++ NewtonOS
programming), open sourcing Waba doesn't add anything at all.
All your other statements insisted on pros and were very convincing
(as I told you, I was about to open source it, probably because I
feel very tired and thought I could get partially disengaged in the
project this way, but now I slept a while I realize that it wouldn't
have been the case).

Anyway, don't take this as a personal attack. Thanks for this
discussion, but please don't use words in a meaningless way when
discussing with me, it doesn't serve your ideas (ok, I do it all the
time, but it's because I'm a philosophy student :)

>Thanks for the beta 9 release.

Well, I'm not very proud of it, I think the interesting release will
be the beta 10 with all the improvements we discussed earlier (plus a
lot of others, I hope). At least, if you install a 2.4 MB package
compressed to 1.3, it should say something like 1.4 or 1.5 at most.

Paul

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