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Linus on kernel management styleLinus on kernel management stylePosted Oct 7, 2004 2:14 UTC (Thu) by mmarq (guest, #2332)Parent article: Linus on kernel management style
" The name of the game is to _avoid_ having to make a decision. In
I dont really envy Linus position... but he as proved also to be a good manager trough all this time, not only a good programmer.
The point * is_not_details *, but a "Declaration of Mission", and IMHO, i really dont know who started it, but i think that was what made Linux to make * that decisive jump into the IT mainstream *,... not fancy features that Solaris had better, and in same small cases still has, but the *Declaration of IT World Domination Purpose*, was what turned the fire into a explosion... look how feeble Open Source Software Everywhere 'sounds' compared with World Domination!
Quality of code was and still is very importante, its necessary but is not sufficient... so more importante than that, was Linux as a software project to have this very strong *Mission Declaration*: 'be the best', 'Nº1', that captivated and turned on fire so many imaginations arround the world, including ,IMO, the big corporations IBM, HP, SUN, INTEL, etc,... that where in a dire need to renew there missions, when the IT markets started to show signs of estagnation...
... perhaps against Linus own likes,... but from that moment foward Linux was dressed with political clothes allover... and not only can't escape it anymore... it has to fulfill it's destiny or die... eventualy.
Sounds dramatic ?... it is !... choices have to be made. And those choises IMO, dont concern more any possible very important particular patch, if it goes_in_or_not, than the purpose of *why*(its not a roadmap) that software is made...
Linux dosent have to stop being a top server system kernel to became a top Desktop system kernel !,... and for that what is missing is hardware support leveling MS Windows... so in the many changes that will be made eventually, and the many choices that have to be made too,... perhaps not exactly a) or b), but perhaps a version of A) plus a version of B)!,... i'm suggesting to complicate Linus life a hell lote more... and he's gonna feel like killing me for sure !(just kidding).
Anyway, is or isn't Linux right now perhaps an even bigger project than MS Windows(kernel) ever was, and perhaps on pair with Longhorn(kernel) ?
Many suggestions lay in the air,... including more maintenance help,... or dividing the main code tree into specialized ones when hitting 'code freeze'... because IMHO what goes on right now its not enterely suitable, because the wild changes period can be so dramatic, that when the Kernel reachs a supposed stable number(2.4, 2.6, 3.0?), after code freeze, it still is managed like a developing beta, and stays on like that, with VM or other intrusive changes in the middle, until it reaches a much higher sub-stable number, when then a *REAL* stable number is indeed achieved.
If a *real* stable 3.0(example) could endure for the average 2, 21/2 years that goes between the development series, and i mean a *real* stable Kernel, with perhaps only a 3.0.5(example) in between if justifiable, then "we" would have much more drivers, be it in loadable kernel modules, in DKMS, or else...
Then a new development serie could start right away after a stable Kernel, and development is where this exposition here;
In conclusion, there would be stable kernels, not stable *series*, because that is for the development cicle.
There is a golden opportunity with the integration of telephony(VoIP, h323), with the integration of Digital TV (HDTV) and after that with Mass Media distribution. Microsoft, http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=8448
Althought not being a Linux kernel developer, i belive, deep inside "we" all secretly somehow aspire to the dream of a form of Open Source World Domination,... was with that feeling that i dared to make suggestions.
Marques
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Linus on kernel management style Posted Oct 7, 2004 9:18 UTC (Thu) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link] It doesn't have a `mission declaration'. Those never work, because you can't make something drive people by simply calling it a `mission declaration'.
What it is is a drive that most good technical people simply happen to share: `make this software as good as it can be'. You don't need a `mission declaration' for that, just a set of shared goals. There's no need to explicitly declare anything.
Linus on kernel management style Posted Oct 7, 2004 22:39 UTC (Thu) by mmarq (guest, #2332) [Link] You are right and wrong...
riight in :
... and the same principle had also been applied to the BSDs before Linux, and any other software project i know of... the perfect is enemy of the good...
wrong in:
My point is exactly that,... it wasent 'called' or deep intentional projected, like in marketing... i dont know why, but that Mission Declaration was indeed launched,... perhaps just occasional, without any correlation, but the fact is that it had stood and was what propelled Linux in front of other similar projects. And it works,... nothing drive people more intensely than work for a 'Superior' purpose.... and it certainly dosent have to be religious.
Linus on kernel management style Posted Oct 7, 2004 16:02 UTC (Thu) by AJWM (guest, #15888) [Link] Interesting point -- and Linux (or rather, free/open source software) is the only entity that could get away with a slogan or "vision statement" like "World Domination". Think of the negative reaction to any commercial outfit that espoused that.
Linux can get away with it simply because there is no power to coerce, no underhanded bait'n'switch, no hiding crap under a polished cover. The only way(*) it can achieve "world domination" is by being the *best*, so good at what it does that no sane person would choose anything else. That latter is more like the vision statement that marketing come up with (and even then it's a bit strong). The phrase "world domination" appeals because it has an element of "ha ha, only serious" to it: nobody *really* takes it seriously, but wouldn't it be neat if...
(*)Most free software proponents would be horrified at the thought of achieving that domination by, say, getting laws passed that *mandate* only Linux, etc, be used -- although a few might like the idea.
Linus on kernel management style Posted Oct 7, 2004 22:45 UTC (Thu) by mmarq (guest, #2332) [Link] " Linux (or rather, free/open source software) is the only entity that could get away with a slogan or "vision statement" like "World Domination". Think of the negative reaction to any commercial outfit that espoused that. "
When Linux was getting on fire, it was 'parodied' in magazines like 'BYTE' of 1997, of being something of fanatic religiuos guys... there wasen't any relevant commercial entity involved... even Red Hat wasent much more than a dream, i belive,...
Linus on kernel management style Posted Oct 7, 2004 22:59 UTC (Thu) by mmarq (guest, #2332) [Link] On better look...
" Most free software proponents would be horrified at the thought of achieving that domination by, say, getting laws passed that *mandate* only Linux, etc, be used -- although a few might like the idea. "
Come on... you are obviously distorting the reality here... what is that you are so affraid... or so against ?
'World Domination' happens to be quite naive, if you happen to have any clue of how is the world dominated... that is why it, maybe, could have a chance !...
And 'World Domination' wasent obviously sorted from a marketing department... never was intended for mass selling... Microsoft used 'Windows everywhere',... but they dont used best software tactics to get there.
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