On Tuesday 02 Sep 2008, Vikas Rawal wrote: > [snip] > But, for a moment, forget that we are talking about google. Isn't > this how every new open source project comes into being? Say, a bunch > of developers think that an existing application should be built > differently. They work on their ideas, make use of existing open > source code, and build a competing open source application. In the > end, their application may turn out to be better than other options > and get adopted by users. It is also possible that it just evaporates > in thin air as soon as it comes out. That's the way it is. > > We can't frown on google for developing parallel open source > projects. Are you then going to say that kde team should contribute > to > openoffice.orgrather than trying to develop koffice? Or tell gnumeric > developers to forget > about it and work on openoffice calc?
Well, that's exactly my point. When Vikas Rawal or Raj Mathur announce on the ILUGD mailing list: We are making a new browser which will be the killer-app browser of the future with all new features, people look, yawn and press the Del key quick. OTOH, when Google does the same the amount of hype and excitement generated is huge, to say the least. You or I would count ourselves lucky if we manage to get 1 coder interested in our project; Google's announcements however draw away thousands of people committed to other projects because of the sheer momentum their name generates. And that is why I'm concerned about their apparent policy of drawing developers from other, equally critical FOSS projects into their fold by announcing competing applications. I'd be much happier if they just continued to support existing projects and bringing them up to their standard rather than fragment the community like this. > Also, I doubt if it is entirely correct to say that google does not > support existing open source applications. Give them their due. > > If FOSS makes any sense, it has to be able to derive strength from > freedom to create one's own thing. If creation of a new open source > application can weaken existing FOSS applications, we are not going > to get anywhere. As you surely remember, the original master of vapourware game was MS, who used to announce new applications at the concept stage to kill the market for competition. They were able to do this because of the weight the name MS carried in the market. Exactly the same way, in the FOSS world there's a difference between developing an app to scratch an itch and announcing a development as a strategic marketing initiative to kill or weaken other apps. If Google had actually made Android into a viable platform for the community I wouldn't have been having doubts about this announcement; in the light of their secretiveness regarding the Android SDK, etc., however, I'm forced to question every announcement of theirs. I'm not claiming that they're out to kill FOSS projects, but I'm not treating their announcements with unreserved elation either. Regards, -- Raju -- Raj Mathur [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://kandalaya.org/ GPG: 78D4 FC67 367F 40E2 0DD5 0FEF C968 D0EF CC68 D17F PsyTrance & Chill: http://schizoid.in/ || It is the mind that moves _______________________________________________ ilugd mailinglist -- ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd Archives at: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.user-groups.linux.delhi http://www.mail-archive.com/ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org/
