Date: Wed, 28 Aug 1996 11:06:12 -0700 (MST) From: Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org> To: rkw@shark.dataplex.net (Richard Wackerbarth) Cc: phk@critter.tfs.com, hackers@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Am I wrong or is this just stupid?r Message-ID: <199608281806.LAA27098@phaeton.artisoft.com> In-Reply-To: <v02140b02ae49c2fa5030@[208.2.87.4]> from "Richard Wackerbarth" at Aug 28, 96 04:57:41 am
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
> This step buys you absolutely no immediate reward. Neither does it break > anything you are now doing. However, it is essential to prepare you to make > the journey to the promised land. I have to say I identify very strongly with this analogy. It is the difference between doing the right thing the right way and the right thing the wrong way. We all agree that the current make system suits the existing needs without an expansion of scope. There are some of us who want an expansion of scope. To get there, we must modify the system with no obvious or appreciable gain. What we do will, to the uninvolved party, look like nothing more than "change for naught but the sake of change". Occams razor, and the very thing that makes a good entrepeneur a good entrepeneur (but a bad CEO) will work against any change in form that achieves the same status quo before subsequent changes go in. This is my foundation argument all over again, with a farming analogy instead. I think that most of us who have contributed code at one time or another were motivated by an ideal of technical excellence, to go beyond the minimal effort required to achieve the goal, and to build something that could be built upon by others (like the original design for 'Space Station Freedom' vs. the design which was funded). > This is where I stand. By my own labors, I cannot rearrange the rows as > fast as others are creating new ones. Unless everyone helps, we will never > be prepared to move to the next step. Or more bluntly, you have to pull the plug on the corpse to free up the support equipment for someone who has a chance of recovering. Terry Lambert terry@lambert.org --- Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present or previous employers.
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?199608281806.LAA27098>