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> Why do you think that the centralization is essential? Decentralisation, as a general concept, has a lot of benefits. Ease of use for new users is generally

> Why do you think that the centralization is essential? Decentralisation, as a general concept, has a lot of benefits. Ease of use for new users is generally not one of them. I'm a Linux kernel dev by day, where we still submit patches through mailing lists. Now, I don't believe the kernel can switch to using a platform like GitHub, as our development workflow on the whole is too decentralised and too complex to shoehorn into the kinds of tools that GitHub et al give us, but I can certainly say that the existing kernel process is a right PITA for new contributors. A large part of this is that we don't have centralised development resources and every different subsystem has a slightly different workflow.

zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 9y ago
> Decentralisation, as a general concept, has a lot of benefits. Ease of use for new users is generally not one of them. Why do you think that ease of use for new users is a benefit of centralized systems such as github? And not, say, of standardization? Is electricity, say, easy to use because it is all supplied by one centralized world-wide supplier, or is it easy to use because voltage, frequency and so on are standardized, so you can plug in your appliances no matter who the supplier is? But also: Do you think that ease of use for new users is a worthwhile optimization target? I mean, at what cost for non-new users does this optimization come, and is that cost worth it? > but I can certainly say that the existing kernel process is a right PITA for new contributors. Why do you think that? My experience would say the exact opposite: You read the readme that comes in the source tree, you run that script that figures out who is responsible for the respective component and you send an email ... you don't even need to create an account with some third party with lengthy TOS to study and stuff. Seriously, submitting patches to the linux kernel so far has been one of the smoothest experiences contributing to free software, with an absolutely minimal barrier to entry.
- ajdlinux 9y ago
  > Is electricity, say, easy to use because it is all supplied by one centralized world-wide supplier, or is it easy to use because voltage, frequency and so on are standardized, so you can plug in your appliances no matter who the supplier is? The voltage, frequency and so on only became standardised because of either monopoly providers or government regulation, depending on where you are in the world. There are parts of the world where they've actually ended up with different electrical standards in different parts of the same country as a direct result of having non-centralised suppliers and multiple different electric grids. > But also: Do you think that ease of use for new users is a worthwhile optimization target? I mean, at what cost for non-new users does this optimization come, and is that cost worth it? Yes, and ideally, it's not a cost for non-new users.

zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 9y ago

> Decentralisation, as a general concept, has a lot of benefits. Ease of use for new users is generally not one of them. Why do you think that ease of use for new users is a benefit of centralized systems such as github? And not, say, of standardization? Is electricity, say, easy to use because it is all supplied by one centralized world-wide supplier, or is it easy to use because voltage, frequency and so on are standardized, so you can plug in your appliances no matter who the supplier is? But also: Do you think that ease of use for new users is a worthwhile optimization target? I mean, at what cost for non-new users does this optimization come, and is that cost worth it? > but I can certainly say that the existing kernel process is a right PITA for new contributors. Why do you think that? My experience would say the exact opposite: You read the readme that comes in the source tree, you run that script that figures out who is responsible for the respective component and you send an email ... you don't even need to create an account with some third party with lengthy TOS to study and stuff. Seriously, submitting patches to the linux kernel so far has been one of the smoothest experiences contributing to free software, with an absolutely minimal barrier to entry.

ajdlinux 9y ago
> Is electricity, say, easy to use because it is all supplied by one centralized world-wide supplier, or is it easy to use because voltage, frequency and so on are standardized, so you can plug in your appliances no matter who the supplier is? The voltage, frequency and so on only became standardised because of either monopoly providers or government regulation, depending on where you are in the world. There are parts of the world where they've actually ended up with different electrical standards in different parts of the same country as a direct result of having non-centralised suppliers and multiple different electric grids. > But also: Do you think that ease of use for new users is a worthwhile optimization target? I mean, at what cost for non-new users does this optimization come, and is that cost worth it? Yes, and ideally, it's not a cost for non-new users.