From: orion@nuchat.nuchat.sccsi.com (Roland Dunkerley)
Subject: Re: Software HOARDING (was Re: a few CERTAIN FTP sites......)
Organization: Eristic Rite In Software, Houston, Tx.
	<ORION.92Jul28145557@nuchat.nuchat.sccsi.com> <UHTH38C@taronga.com>
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 00:30:57 GMT

>>>>> In article <UHTH38C@taronga.com>, peter@taronga.com (Peter da Silva) writes:

	|> In article <ORION.92Jul28145557@nuchat.nuchat.sccsi.com> orion@nuchat.nuchat.sccsi.com (Roland Dunkerley) writes:
>I think the biggest reason that most
>current free software is for hackers is that the hackers
>writing the software find that software to be more 'useful.'

	|> I definitely agree with this as the reason that most (I
	|> would say virtually all) free software is designed for
	|> hackers instead of mundanes. The fact remains, though, that
	|> without "software hoarding" there wouldn't have been
	|> anything like the spread of computers we've seen in the
	|> past decade. However distasteful you might think it, it's
	|> demonstrably necessary for the health of the computer
	|> world.

I think that that is in fact true in the historical sense, remember
though that windowing systems started their life cycle as toys for
hackers.  I think that GNU has had an effect on the computer industry,
more than one major vendor has ported gcc instead of building a
compiler for their new system in another fashion.  Why?  Because it
has become the most cost-effective way to build a compiler for a new
system.  Even with the restrictions embodied by the GPL, it still is
an effective means of conducting business.  When the hackers have
written a satisfactory amount of hacker-toys some of them will write
real world applications.  A WYSIWYG desktop publishing system is on
the GNU tasks list, as is a Dbase clone.  Actual applications software
takes a back seat to gcc, emacs, hurd, and other similar projects.  I
think this reflects upon what the involved individuals see as important.

>I think he was talking about the technically adept as
>opposed to someone who just happens to know lotus very well.

	|> I would class these as hackers (in the original sense)
	|> rather than power users.

Agreed.

>Most commercial software meant for mass-market consumption
>doesn't meet the needs of hackers well, of course, it's not
>meant to either...

	|> Well, this hacker would be delighted in a clone of MacWrite
	|> that generated SGML output that could be easily converted
	|> to TeX or nroff or lout and would run on generic UNIX.

	|> This hacker would be delighted in a window system that
	|> didn't spend all its time coercing a timeshared operating
	|> system to provide real time response.

	|> This hacker would be delighted in being able to put
	|> management on UNIX boxes so he didn't have to go around to
	|> their offices all the time to deal with DOS problems.

I'll second that.  I hate MessDOS.

	|> Come on, GNU fans, prove me wrong. Give me something the
	|> mundanes can appreciate. Microsoft Delenda Est.

I think this will happen, just that it will unfortunately take more
time.  I think that GNU will accomplish some of their goals, and that
others may never be realized (IE the end of the commercial industry as
we know it seems a bit far-fetched.)  I feel that the goals which they
will accomplish will help the industry as a whole, hopefully improving
customer service in all areas of software support, by increasing
competition in this area.  Ever tried to get an answer from Borland's
tech support?  They read the manuals to you...  Several other
organizations are just as bad.  Maybe, just hopefully, comercial
organizations like Cygnus will help up the standards in customer
support by a notch or two.

--
"I still dream of Orgonon..."     ---    KaTe Bush, Cloudbusting
Fnord.                        Roland Pleasant Dunkerley III, KSC
Eristic Rite In Software         Hail Eris!  All Hail Discordia!
orion@nuchat.sccsi.com               {uhnix1,uunet}!nuchat!orion
-- 
"I still dream of Orgonon..."     ---    KaTe Bush, Cloudbusting
Fnord.                        Roland Pleasant Dunkerley III, KSC
Eristic Rite In Software         Hail Eris!  All Hail Discordia!
orion@nuchat.sccsi.com               {uhnix1,uunet}!nuchat!orion
Newsgroups: alt.hackers