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Date:      Thu, 02 Apr 2009 10:31:44 -0700
From:      Marcel Moolenaar <xcllnt@mac.com>
To:        Poul-Henning Kamp <phk@phk.freebsd.dk>
Cc:        FreeBSD Arch <arch@freebsd.org>, Gordon Tetlow <gordon@tetlows.org>
Subject:   On i18n [was: Re: On errno]
Message-ID:  <17CC6EDA-E2F7-4BC3-B7EB-EAAA3F80A9C1@mac.com>
In-Reply-To: <1571.1238607005@critter.freebsd.dk>
References:  <1571.1238607005@critter.freebsd.dk>

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On Apr 1, 2009, at 10:30 AM, Poul-Henning Kamp wrote:

> In message <A72F9BE4-2D74-436B-9FB3-19CF93AD6F78@mac.com>, Marcel  
> Moolenaar wri
> tes:
>
>> Personally I'd like to think that that we write an OS for users.
>
> We write an OS for the people who can and will use an OS written by  
> us.

Doesn't this ipso facto mean that FreeBSD is bound to be
used by the same people who develop it?

Isn't this a recipe for cliques?

Aren't we then predisposed to end up in a situation where
only we think we have the best OS, while being ignorant of
the fact that we've made ourselves entirely irrelevant to
the rest of the world?

> Absent a huge influx of translators, FreeBSD is not going to have
> a viable I18N footprint.

True. But the huge influx will not happen if we don't
open the doors and welcome i18n. Your position on it has
been far from welcoming indeed. In a sense you use the
lack of influx to defend your position that i18n does not
have to be considered. How can you be sure that your
position that i18n does not have to be considered is the
direct cause of the lack of influx?

> Such an influx, should it happen, would most likely be rebuffed and
> resisted by the current developers of FreeBSD.

Right. You block the thing you argue will not happen.
That's a comfortable armchair to be arguing from :-)

Maybe we should ask ourselves this: if the current
developers rebuf and resist influx, isn't it time
for them to hand in their commit bits and find some
other project to contribute to?

note: this is not a personal attack, nor do I imply
anyone.  It's a philosophical question that applies
to me to. I assume that I will block progress some
time in the future (assuming I'm not doing it already)
simply because I'm too firmly stuck in old ways or
fail to catch up to new developments or just because
my thinking becomes incompatible with the project.
Isn't it better that I move on and let FreeBSD go its
separate way?

-- 
Marcel Moolenaar
xcllnt@mac.com






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