[9fans] Re: Plan9 should be free distributable

[Anthony Sorace anothy@eden.rutgers.edu]

//I'm more interested in keeping the OS alive then making sure a
//bunch of engineers at Lucent stay on the payroll.

there are, in my mind, two things that make Plan 9 an
interesting and enjoyable system to use: ideas and
implementation. while proliferation of the OS may likely
help keep the "ideas" portion of that equation going, i'm
more than a little skeptical of what it would do to the
"implementation" portion. well beyond just being "neat"
or "cool", Plan 9 is _elegant_, maybe even beautiful. i
look at the comparative quality of systems (in terms of
code quality, consistancy, usefulness, etc.) between the
various BSDs and Linux, and the BSDs always come out
ahead (not to say their coding is so great...). that's
precisely because of the fact that some central body has
(in most cased) kept some sort of control over the BSD
development/distribution process, while Linux is alot
more open. and i'm sorry, but while twenty high school
or college kids mucking around in their basement may get
drivers for that new ReallySuper 3D9000 video card or my
Nintendo Power Glove produced faster than jmk's turning
out drivers, all of them in the world arn't going to
come close to designing a _system_ nearly as nice as the
folks who've done Plan 9 in the labs. and not only do i
think they deserve to be rewarded for that, but i think
it's in MY (our) interests to keep them employed, to
keep them working on the project, and to keep them in
control of the project.

also note above that i'm talking about systems, not
parts of systems. Plan 9 is a new system in a way that
Linux/BSD/etc. are not. it's harder to do systems right
than it is to do stand-alone apps, even large ones.

or maybe it's just me.
: anothy;