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If many people start using git, we can start expecting things from git. Why? The author of a piece of software is under no obligation to satisfy the expectatio

by donaq 16y ago

If many people start using git, we can start expecting things from git. Why? The author of a piece of software is under no obligation to satisfy the expectations of its incidental users, especially if he's not selling it to them.

viraptor 16y ago
If they get big enough... no they don't have an obligation, but the idea of many people depending on them should be enough. It's like MS had no obligation to satisfy expectations of IE5 users (not sold directly) - sure they didn't - but many got very annoyed because of that and because of the market share, we had internet-wide consequences for standard-compliant websites. Still - they had no obligation.
- donaq 16y ago
  That is just wrong on so many levels. Firstly, Microsoft marketed the hell out of IE. The bundling of IE with Windows was their way of getting people to use IE instead of Netscape Navigator. Since their stand (in court, no less!) was that IE was an integral part of Windows, which they sold to users, they did have an obligation to satisfy users' expectations of it. Did anyone force you to use git by bundling it with some other piece of software you were using? Nope. Secondly, in what crazy alternate universe can git, which is given to you free as in libre as well as beer, be compared with IE? If you think git sucks, but still want to use it for some crazy reason, go ahead and modify it to suit your needs. Lastly, I cannot imagine a world where anyone would be forced to have to cater for a VCS the way we have to for browsers. They're simply too different in function. It's not like you're in danger of being forced into the business of implementing a service supporting commits and checkouts for two different types of repositories on the same source files... unless you work at GitHub. Heh.
phaylon 16y ago
Nobody is telling Linus he messed something up. Are we not allowed to raise issues, discuss and bring forth our perceived problems? "Use it as it is or GTFO" doesn't seem like the Open Source way. The problem here is that there are people telling everybody that "git is easy," "everybody should use git," and then every time someone raises a concern someone brings up the argument above. I wonder, what is your goal? Are you trying to get people who "don't get it" to stop using git? Do you think killing discussions about it will further progress? Are you afraid the interface you learned might change?

by donaq 16y ago

viraptor 16y ago

If they get big enough... no they don't have an obligation, but the idea of many people depending on them should be enough. It's like MS had no obligation to satisfy expectations of IE5 users (not sold directly) - sure they didn't - but many got very annoyed because of that and because of the market share, we had internet-wide consequences for standard-compliant websites. Still - they had no obligation.

donaq 16y ago
That is just wrong on so many levels. Firstly, Microsoft marketed the hell out of IE. The bundling of IE with Windows was their way of getting people to use IE instead of Netscape Navigator. Since their stand (in court, no less!) was that IE was an integral part of Windows, which they sold to users, they did have an obligation to satisfy users' expectations of it. Did anyone force you to use git by bundling it with some other piece of software you were using? Nope. Secondly, in what crazy alternate universe can git, which is given to you free as in libre as well as beer, be compared with IE? If you think git sucks, but still want to use it for some crazy reason, go ahead and modify it to suit your needs. Lastly, I cannot imagine a world where anyone would be forced to have to cater for a VCS the way we have to for browsers. They're simply too different in function. It's not like you're in danger of being forced into the business of implementing a service supporting commits and checkouts for two different types of repositories on the same source files... unless you work at GitHub. Heh.

phaylon 16y ago

Nobody is telling Linus he messed something up. Are we not allowed to raise issues, discuss and bring forth our perceived problems? "Use it as it is or GTFO" doesn't seem like the Open Source way. The problem here is that there are people telling everybody that "git is easy," "everybody should use git," and then every time someone raises a concern someone brings up the argument above. I wonder, what is your goal? Are you trying to get people who "don't get it" to stop using git? Do you think killing discussions about it will further progress? Are you afraid the interface you learned might change?