[Sussex] GNU, things to come?

[Geoff Teale]

Angelo Wrote:
-------------
> Yes, 'Baby Driver' is a S&G song.  I like playing with double 
> meanings.  ie.
> this is a 'Baby Driver' in the sense that it is being worked on. :-)

A fine geek traditon!  Word games and jargon are an integral part of
"hacker" culture (note the difference between a "hacker" and a "cracker"  -
the definitions in the geekdom do not match those in popular culture).

Check out the jargon file for more:

http://www.tuxedo.org/jargon/html/index.html

Thks information (with some extensions) is available in print as "The New
Hackers Dictionary".  The current maintainer, Eric S Raymond (ESR to his
friends) is a prominant member of the community, the man who bough the
fetchmail program to maturity, a much published writer about Open Source and
about the closest to a Marketing Director the open source community has -
his stance is less radical than RMS's.


> Taking the point of your argument about GNU.  This would be a great
> opportunity for me to 'give something back', as I am very 
> greatful for all
> the help I'm getting both in learning and implementing.  In 
> fact the very
> open way in which I see the SLUGS helping each other is very 
> refreshing to
> see.

THat's the whole point.  The LUG is a grass-roots effort, we come together
socially as much as anything else, to support each other in what we're
doing.  The web is the home of the greater community and the place you'll
find the most information in.  LINUX's roots are in the internet - it exists
in it's current form _because_ of the internet.  One of the skills LINUX
people learn quite early on is how to get information from the breadth of
data available on the internet rather than looking for one central source of
information.

> However, conversely, most people in other areas of life hog 
> their knowlege
> dearly.  This of course is considered to be niche building.  
> What in fact
> actually happens is that an organisation's knowledge ends up 
> primarily in a
> select few's heads.  When one of these either leaves or ends 
> up as garbage
> disposal on some motorway, the organisation ends up having to 
> re-invent the
> wheel.  Of course maintenance on a daily basis is also a 
> pain, because the
> poor developers have to run around like headless chickens 
> trying to gather
> necessary info (as you know, we both know a place like 
> that!).  

I can't imagine where you mean ?  ;)

Most people on this list will be well aware of the shenanigans that go on
here and my opinion of the practices here.  They may even know some things I
wouldn't bring up publicly at work  - like the discrepancy between what I
was bought into the company to do and what I ended up doing.  It is fair to
say that the 8 months I've been at Claybrook have not been the happiest of
my working life.


> I wonder, as
> Linux becomes more and more an accepted paradigm in corporate 
> life, will the
> GNU philosophy begin the big melt in working practices?

A good question.  This is one that divides the community - if you know  your
history....

There is a subtle difference between Free Software (that which is covered by
the GPL) and Open Source Software.  Eric S Raymond and RMS had a major
falling out when thr concept of Open Source came to the fore.  The likes of
RMS take a very extreme view point - RMS would not approve of the LINUX
distro you use because it contains proprietary software. 

The Open Source people believed that the Free Software mantra was too
extreme for the business community and that a more flexible approach would
bring more businesses and home users into the fold.

The debate rages on within the community - but crucially we don't let it get
in the way of making the platform work (usually).  

It should be noted that Free Software is about freedoms implied in the
license, not about price.  If I chose to I could sell you a GPL licensed
program (something exciting like xBill) for £60,000 with a years support
contract - if you're silly enough to pay that price then the deal is
perfectly legal.

I would imagine that a straw poll of the LUG would result in quite a range
of opinions on the subject.  My own view leans towards the GNU/FSF
standpoint - but then as you will come to realise, I am an idealist and a
political beast at the best of times.  I set out my stall early on - I wore
my GNU and GPL teeshirt to the very first LUG meet.

-- 
GJT
geoff.teale at claybrook.co.uk




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