6 ms·

Given enough time, open-source will win. Just think about how more and more people are programming and how that will draw them to open-source.

underscore_ku 4mo ago
more people and AI
- da-x 4mo ago
  Specifications are important. The better the specs of a commercial product, the easier it would be to produce an open source version it, with coding and testing automation perhaps even a one-to-one offering.
  - hard_times 4mo ago
    well, you've got endless "integration testing" in the form of 3rd party software for Windows. More reliable than any specification, considering Windows itself is a patchwork of workarounds to not break backward-compatibility.
xattt 4mo ago
> development for 28 years now > given enough time This has been a lifetime for a slice of the human population. It’s getting into Sagrada Familia territory.
- KronisLV 4mo ago
  See, at this rate it won’t even take a century!
- rzzzt 4mo ago
  This is an absolute tangent (a perpendicular one if you will), but I thought the Sagrada Familia is completed: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2026/06/10/barcelonas-sagrada-familia-completed-after-144-years-celebrates-gauds-centenary/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2026/06/10/bar... The article talks about construction on the exterior, the cross on the main tower, the Pope's visit and commemoration of the architect, etc. while on the official website the timeline says "Today, more than 140 years after the laying of the cornerstone, construction continues on the Basilica": https://sagradafamilia.org/en/history-of-the-temple https://sagradafamilia.org/en/history-of-the-temple So which one is it? Is this one of those cases where we have to define "done" first?
  - belinder 4mo ago
    The exterior is done, the interior not yet
    - slazaro 4mo ago
      That's not true, there's a lot to be done on the exterior as well, the main entrance is not even finished yet. The big achievement that happened recently is they completed the towers, so it finally reached its target height. Also the Pope's blessing.
    - hilbert42 4mo ago
      "…the interior not yet" Right, there is a long tradition in it taking centuries to build great cathedrals, Chartres, Notre Dame, etc. I've little issue with that, however taking so long to build something such as an O/S that it's obsoleted itself many times over before being finished is another matter altogether.
- RattlesnakeJake 4mo ago
  > It’s getting into Sagrada Familia territory. Or "A million monkeys with a million typewriters writing Shakespeare" territory
pjmlp 4mo ago
Only if it keeps being relevant for the computing model. Case in point, ReactOS is far behind what Windows 11 is capable of, and this not taking into account the ARM and CoPilot+ PC hardware changes in modern motherboards. It is nonetheless relevant, especially in the presence of escape mechanisms to oppressive governments, and digital sovereignty.
- mschuster91 4mo ago
  > It is nonetheless relevant, especially in the presence of escape mechanisms to oppressive governments, and digital sovereignty. Not just for that. There's an awful, awful lot of ancient embedded hardware running machinery sometimes worth dozens of millions of dollars, and it's running even more ancient software. Siemens, for example, recently searched for people capable of (and willing to) working with Windows 3.11 [1], presumably to deal with the HMI displays for locomotive/train drivers. When dealing with hardware or software that has lifecycles measured in half-centuries, bridges to allow modern tooling to work with it are really, really important. [1] https://www.heise.de/news/Deutsche-Bahn-sucht-Admin-fuer-Windows-3-11-for-Workgroups-9611543.html https://www.heise.de/news/Deutsche-Bahn-sucht-Admin-fuer-Win...
  - reactordev 4mo ago
    There are millions of Windows 95 embedded in industrial or government machines. Millions.
    - pjmlp 4mo ago
      Doing stuff that an ESP 32 would suffice.
      - dcrazy 4mo ago
        Yeah but instead of rewriting it, dropping in a supported OS that continues to receive security fixes is a very attractive alternative.
      - reactordev 4mo ago
micromacrofoot 4mo ago
this is the year of the linux desktop
- goodcanadian 4mo ago
  I have been exclusively running linux on my desktop for 25 years, so from my point of view, this "joke" is a quarter century out of date
  - micromacrofoot 4mo ago
    that's the joke
shevy-java 4mo ago
IF there are people who write code. This is not always the case. Open source projects also die. We need to improve the funding situation. I have no idea how to do that, but we really need to tackle that problem.

underscore_ku 4mo ago

more people and AI

da-x 4mo ago
Specifications are important. The better the specs of a commercial product, the easier it would be to produce an open source version it, with coding and testing automation perhaps even a one-to-one offering.
- hard_times 4mo ago
  well, you've got endless "integration testing" in the form of 3rd party software for Windows. More reliable than any specification, considering Windows itself is a patchwork of workarounds to not break backward-compatibility.

xattt 4mo ago

> development for 28 years now > given enough time This has been a lifetime for a slice of the human population. It’s getting into Sagrada Familia territory.

KronisLV 4mo ago
See, at this rate it won’t even take a century!
rzzzt 4mo ago
This is an absolute tangent (a perpendicular one if you will), but I thought the Sagrada Familia is completed: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2026/06/10/barcelonas-sagrada-familia-completed-after-144-years-celebrates-gauds-centenary/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2026/06/10/bar... The article talks about construction on the exterior, the cross on the main tower, the Pope's visit and commemoration of the architect, etc. while on the official website the timeline says "Today, more than 140 years after the laying of the cornerstone, construction continues on the Basilica": https://sagradafamilia.org/en/history-of-the-temple https://sagradafamilia.org/en/history-of-the-temple So which one is it? Is this one of those cases where we have to define "done" first?
- belinder 4mo ago
  The exterior is done, the interior not yet
  - slazaro 4mo ago
    That's not true, there's a lot to be done on the exterior as well, the main entrance is not even finished yet. The big achievement that happened recently is they completed the towers, so it finally reached its target height. Also the Pope's blessing.
  - hilbert42 4mo ago
    "…the interior not yet" Right, there is a long tradition in it taking centuries to build great cathedrals, Chartres, Notre Dame, etc. I've little issue with that, however taking so long to build something such as an O/S that it's obsoleted itself many times over before being finished is another matter altogether.
RattlesnakeJake 4mo ago
> It’s getting into Sagrada Familia territory. Or "A million monkeys with a million typewriters writing Shakespeare" territory

pjmlp 4mo ago

Only if it keeps being relevant for the computing model. Case in point, ReactOS is far behind what Windows 11 is capable of, and this not taking into account the ARM and CoPilot+ PC hardware changes in modern motherboards. It is nonetheless relevant, especially in the presence of escape mechanisms to oppressive governments, and digital sovereignty.

mschuster91 4mo ago
> It is nonetheless relevant, especially in the presence of escape mechanisms to oppressive governments, and digital sovereignty. Not just for that. There's an awful, awful lot of ancient embedded hardware running machinery sometimes worth dozens of millions of dollars, and it's running even more ancient software. Siemens, for example, recently searched for people capable of (and willing to) working with Windows 3.11 [1], presumably to deal with the HMI displays for locomotive/train drivers. When dealing with hardware or software that has lifecycles measured in half-centuries, bridges to allow modern tooling to work with it are really, really important. [1] https://www.heise.de/news/Deutsche-Bahn-sucht-Admin-fuer-Windows-3-11-for-Workgroups-9611543.html https://www.heise.de/news/Deutsche-Bahn-sucht-Admin-fuer-Win...
- reactordev 4mo ago
  There are millions of Windows 95 embedded in industrial or government machines. Millions.
  - pjmlp 4mo ago
    Doing stuff that an ESP 32 would suffice.
    - dcrazy 4mo ago
      Yeah but instead of rewriting it, dropping in a supported OS that continues to receive security fixes is a very attractive alternative.
    - reactordev 4mo ago

micromacrofoot 4mo ago

this is the year of the linux desktop

goodcanadian 4mo ago
I have been exclusively running linux on my desktop for 25 years, so from my point of view, this "joke" is a quarter century out of date
- micromacrofoot 4mo ago
  that's the joke

shevy-java 4mo ago

IF there are people who write code. This is not always the case. Open source projects also die. We need to improve the funding situation. I have no idea how to do that, but we really need to tackle that problem.