Is this a Kindergarten for engineers?

[Gilbert Cattoire]

At 8:57 -0600 on 27/10/99, you wrote


Hello list members,
As a person interested in the open source philosophy, I am a bit puzzled to see
that while people "above" are making a buck on the concept, some of 
you give the impression that engineers are just interested in 
counting marbles in a Kindergarten.
Endless bickering is very very boring...
Where are we?
I am not here to judge people. People who need to argue should have a 
special hate list for that.
How many people are you chasing away with such sterile discussions?
How sad it is to see so many messages entitled "UNSUBSCRIBE ME!"
Do you guys intend to keep on shooting at each others' feet?

I am not a developer myself but I have a passion for computer 
engineering and its potential for the future of our planet and the 
evolution of mankind.
I work mainly with nonprofit organizations to help them use computers 
and networks.
 
I believe open source, or whatever you call it, is a true revolution 
for an industrial society like ours.
I wish there were more socially conscious people on this list.
I understand that most of the ongoing discussions do not necessarily 
encourage such persons to express themselves here.
If anyone knows of a list were the concept, the ideas of an open 
source society and economy are debated, as well as the details of new 
software licence models, I shall be glad to subscribe to it.

In advance, many thanks,

Gilbert Cattoire

==================================
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==================================



>    This thread seems to be about giving credit to the GNU effort, while the
>    above statement suggest that Linus' contribution was just a snap or some
>    strike of luck.
>
>That's exactly what it was.  Linus was not aiming or planning to help
>complete a free operating system.  He wrote a kernel for completely
>different reasons.  The fact that it was then useful for producing a
>free operating system was a happy accident in terms of his motives.
>
>I don't consider this a criticism; some of my projects, such as the
>original Emacs, were happy accidents too.
>
>     Is it really necessary to play down some one else's
>    contribution to justify the GNU/Linux name?
>
>I am sorry you feel that this is "playing down".  Pointing out the
>reasons why Linus wrote Linux does not alter the merits of Linux as a
>technical contribution.  My point is about how a different
>contribution, the vision of a complete free system, came from the GNU
>Project.


Gilbert Cattoire

==================================
+33 (0)1 43 36 92 92
+33 (0)6 80 21 84 23
gilbert.cattoire at imaginet.fr
==================================