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In my opinion, the presence of a BDFL is what elevates open source to excellence from an aimless bazaar. Otherwise it's just a game of politics and bureaucracy
by sph 3y ago
In my opinion, the presence of a BDFL is what elevates open source to excellence from an aimless bazaar. Otherwise it's just a game of politics and bureaucracy to organise a herd of volunteers that would rather bike shed than reach a common goal.
This is the reason why commercial software tends to be perceived of higher quality than most open source projects: you need someone to say "no, this is unacceptable."
Thank God we have Linus. Meanwhile the Linux userspace is terrible because there is indeed no Linus, so we're still squabbling over X.org and systemd.
- pjmlp 3y agoExcept, like in any kingdom, the king that follows isn't necessarly as good, and so far most of the originaly BDFL are still around. I am the opinion this will all pass, and FOSS movement will fade once all key leaders are gone. Proven by the fizzling out of all relevant movements throughout the human history.
- sph 3y agoIs the suffragette movement about to fizzle out? Movements fade away, unless they succeed in changing the status quo. Open source has stopped being a movement since the turn of the millennium.