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integrity and open source
Hm, I thought of this on the train home today after reading this DaveNet piece the other day. I should compose my thoughts a bit better and send an email off to Dave or you, but for now I'll just hide this down here :) The reason I started writing open source code was because of integrity. My job at the time was uninspiring, not fun, and full of back-biting jerks. The ammount of time I spent producing code was so minimal. I saw a need for some Linux kernel work that I could do, and I did it. It got accepted, hacked to pieces, and something good emerged out the other end. But this is code I am proud of, damn proud of. For my name is on it for all the world to see. No marketing MBA dip can tell me to add some feature that really isn't needed except for a check box, and no senior engineer can veto it just because they don't like new ideas on their turf, but I digress. In short my integrity rides on this code. That's why I think what Linux and other open source code projects are such a breath of fresh air for people who are tired of the shell that has been built up around products from their original creators. Anyone can contact any author of the pieces of Linux code, and usually get back a coherent, honest answer fairly quickly. They don't have to suffer through 4 levels of tech support hell, just to have someone say that their problem will be fixed in the next release that will be out in 6 months and cost an upgrade fee. They can instantly learn that the problem has been fixed and they have to rebuild their entire kernel to fix it :) Did that all make sense?
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