Re: Delphi Bugs

From: Derek Davidson (derek.davidson_at_REMOVEenterpriseblue.co.uk)
Date: 07/31/04 

Date: 31 Jul 2004 09:16:28 -0700

Bob Dawson wrote:

> Read: There's no such thing as an open source method for major
> projects; the bizarre is a myth.

I'm really not sure what you mean by 'bizarre' here.

  bi.zarre : Pronunciation Key (b-zar)
  adj.
    Strikingly unconventional and far-fetched in style
    or appearance; odd.

Now maybe your use of that one word is throwing me but I cannot make
any sense of your statement.

> Nor is there any advantage to it. Without a full owner's perspective,
> personally branching someone else's code is simple folly, for multiple
> reasons stated previously.

Irrelevant. You CAN do it if you wish (and I know people that have).
That's what Open Source is all about. With closed source, you do not
even have the option.

>> and uploading it to the owner for them to review, test and
>> (hopefully) incorporate in the next code revision. You CANNOT do
>> this with closed source.
>
> Au contraire.

You're stripping my quote out of context. The "You CANNOT do this with
closed source" refers to the availability of source code, as the full
quote makes clear:

"But there's nothing stopping ANYONE from changing their copy of the
code, making use of it themselves and uploading it to the owner for
them to review, test and (hopefully) incorporate in the next code
revision. You CANNOT do this with closed source."
 
> Or to go back to the 'topic case'--if Danny had rewritten the way
> Linux handles library loads, would Linus have accepted it?

Why should he? It was never a bug. Linux was designed to work that way.
Changing it would break existing code. Open Source is not another term
for software anarchy. Normal professionalism still applies.

> Yes, I'm licensed for the QuantumGrid with
> source--but I'm not likely to try to fork it.

But if DevEx went out of business tomorrow (heaven forfend) at least
with the source you could compile it for use when the next version of
Delphi comes out. You couldn't do that without source.

> If I have a problem
> with behavior I'm not going to try and rewrite it, I'm just going to
> report the behavior; fixing it is DevEx's job.

Sure. They're a commercial vendor.

> If the problem is a show stopper, then I look for another vender--it's
> that simple.

That's over-simplified. Go find another grid for Delphi that does the
same that QG does. You won't find one. So, again in the scenario that
DevEx went out of business and you didn't have source, you'd be
severely stuffed.

> As for personal branches, telling someone that they'd be better off
> with open source presumes they have the time, background, and need to
> care.

Not at all. It's a security blanket. YOU have total control. Its there
if you need it. 

-- 
Derek Davidson
http://www.enterpriseblue.com
For the world's EASIEST Help Desk software
Now Verified for Microsoft Windows Server 2003

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