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From: Preben Randhol <randhol@pvv.org>
Subject: Re: JAVA and ADA JGNAT
Date: 2000/01/26
Message-ID: <m3g0vk65as.fsf@kiuk0156.chembio.ntnu.no>#1/1
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dvdeug@x8b4e53cd.dhcp.okstate.edu (David Starner) writes:

| I'd disagree. The problem is not that they're open, but that nobody did
| any work. It would have happened anyway, you just would never had heard
| about it. Linux and Debian GNU/Linux are two examples of projects that
| were open from the barest beginnings, and were successful partially
| because of it.

1. I didn't say that open software is bad, I prefer that very much to
   closed software, but I said that premature releases are bad.

2. I don't think a project that releases the source at say version
   0.30 is any worse off than one that releases it at 0.0.1 where
   nothing usually works at all. 

| Usually. I think our definitions of reasonably usable are different,
| though. Again, the Linux kernel was released at 0.0.1 and it worked
| well enough to attract developers (which is what's important to the
| success of a project, not users).

Well my point exactly, it worked well enough to attract developers. It
was then not premature...

| Sure. But I'd rather have a JGNAT than no JGNAT. And I don't

As I see it there is no black and white situation here, only that you
have to wait a bit longer for the product.

| Then stop using the ones marked alpha or beta. I've seen very few
| open source products not marked alpha or beta that were not stable,
| and I've found many marked such that were. YMMV.

One that was released prematurely _as stable_ twice, is the Gnome
Project http://www.gnome.org. 

One thing Open Source Projects and deadlines do not mix. :-) 

-- 
Preben Randhol -- [randhol@pvv.org] -- [http://www.pvv.org/~randhol/]     
         "Det eneste trygge stedet i verden er inne i en fortelling." 
                                                      -- Athol Fugard