Re: [9fans] devtrace release time

["ron minnich" <rminnich@gmail.com>]

On Thu, Dec 18, 2008 at 12:47 AM,  <lucio@proxima.alt.za> wrote:
>Ron needed the
> software and Ron got it, whatever it took him to achieve this.  Can
> you spot the difference?]

It's a bit more than that: I saw a need starting in 2000, with the
initial open source release; I gave talks to anyone who would listen
in DOE and five years later started to get money. Money is a necessary
but not sufficient condition. Without people like Eric and Jim and
Charles it would still be all just talk; we are lucky to have those
smart people. It also takes a willingness, at times, to risk your job,
which at least one person on this project has done over the last 3
years. It's a *LOT* of work to get to where we are now. It's also
taken the determination of those at Bell Labs who were unwilling to
let it all die. I admire their dedication.

And we do have a sword hanging over our heads: we've got to get Plan 9
on the top 500 in 2009 or the DOE aspect of this may all go bust. So
you're looking at 9 years (feels like 90!) of pushing on strings with
a pretty hard deliverable next year.

I do see a gradual uptick on this list of people who are finding ways
to contribute, and that's good to see. And I also see a gradual
realization in my community that Linux is not the End of History where
kernels are concerned.

BTW, 9vx is making a lot of new fans. The startup is just breathtaking
and people get drawn in.

This project might only have happened in DOE, which is a very open
agency in these ways. It is unlikely that any other branch of the US
Gov't would have funded this work -- certainly DARPA would not have.

ron