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Hold on, I didn't claim I was developing for a "larger" community - you need to read the comment above. Nor did I claim that I'm a "prophet of free-software" -
by slgeorge 13y ago
Hold on, I didn't claim I was developing for a "larger" community - you need to read the comment above. Nor did I claim that I'm a "prophet of free-software" - I did say that all the people care about Free Software, perhaps you think that's fake - I can only tell you it's not.
I clearly stated that each individual and company in Free Software works on areas which meet its individual goals - in other words "scratch your own itch". I do claim that this is one of the biggest benefits of Free Software because it means we can collaborate without having the same goals.
And, I do believe that we are 'good citizens' of free software. We obey the rules of the license, we keep to our responsibilities.
Let me put it this way. Pretend you want to work on an IRC client for Linux. And when you go online everyone screams and shouts at you and says "we've already got an IRC client we don't need more", does this stop you working on one? Of course, not because 1) maybe you have some better ideas, and 2) It's your choice what you work on.
When I first got into Free Software we never had this 'tyranny of opinion' about what people should or should not develop. If I develop a feature it doesn't make you poorer in some way. It's something that's got worse in the last few years - and telling people they "don't collaborate" because you mean "your opinion is different to mine" is a bad social meme in Free Software.
That's my personal opinion.