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puff -at- guild -dot- net wrote:
>
> You're getting it backwards, Bruce. The claim is not that this
> *is* what happens (although by this point anecdotal evidence is
> overwhelming that it does) but that this is what *can* happen, and by
> definition cannot happen with closed-source software. C'mon, you
> edit Maximum Linux, you should know this :-).
I was playing devil's advocate. I've seen it happen too many times
to have many doubts, but I would like to see it formally studied.
And, BTW, a "Contributing Editor" doesn't do any regular editing,
although I've helped out when requested. Strangely enough, what a
contributing editor does is write.
> It'd be interesting to see an analysis of the claim, but I doubt
> you'll ever see a real analysis, because it'd need to analyze
> commercial closed-source software as well,
You have a point. Still, a comparison of the time taken to respond
to bugs should be possible, since it would involve no NDAs, just the
time between a bug being known and the announcement of a fix, both
of which are at least semi-public events.
> I do think that we're likely to see the concept of "programmer"
> and/or the general distinction between a somebody who's familiar with
> and comfortable using and manipulating information technology
> disappear.
Interestingly enough, that's already happening in the free software
movement. Many of the free developers see themselves as users who
happen to program. When I've assumed a division between developers
and users, several took me to task.
--
Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications
Contributing Editor, Maximum Linux
604.421.7189 bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com
"This is the hour when the city turns blue,
This is the time of the lost and found,
They've loosed the nutters in the Underground,
Everything's far and nothing is true."
- Oysterband, "The Lost and Found"
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