Re: Are we in this for ourselves?
bruce@va.debian.org wrote on 17.03.98 in <[🔎] 19980317182500.1699.qmail@va.debian.org>:
> A common message I hear on Debian lists is "I just do this for myself".
> I understand that we are all volunteers, and we can't be expected to give
> up everything for the users, but the mission of Debian is _not_ to make a
> great Linux distribution for "myself".
Don't confuse Debian's mission with the goals of individual developers.
There's no reason they should be the same - only compatible.
> The mission of Debian and SPI is to promote and distribute free software
> to the world, and to educate the user community. This is especially binding
> on SPI: it's in the declaration of the purpose of our corporation, and we
> are legaly bound to pursue that mission.
Well, I'm no part of SPI, I'm part of Debian.
One of my goals is to _have_ a distribution for my machine like the one
that Debian is building.
Now, obviously, I stand a better chance of having that when I help
building it. Also, building an OS has always fascinated me. I like
spending time on stuff like that.
That's why *I* work for Debian. I don't think there's anything wrong with
that.
Also, when what I produce is good for others, they will (sometimes) tell
me. I like that. So I try to make my stuff useful for others.
ISTR even rms wrote Emacs because he wanted to use it, not to save the
world. I'm very suspicious of people whose main motivation is saving the
world.
> So, while we welcome the labor of people who mostly do it for themselves,
> there is a certain amount of working _together_ that is required of every
> member. Even though you do all of the work on your packages, you're not
> an island, and you're not expected to act like one. The alternative is
> many teams of one person, all creating the ultimate distribution for
> themselves.
Well, from the above I think it should be obvious that for me, working
together is an important part of Debian - *because* I'm doing this for
myself.
> So, please folks, less "me" and more "the world".
Please, no. Don't suppress the "me". It's unhealthy.
Don't suppress "working togerther", either.
But forget about saving the world. Far too many people are already trying
to do that.
MfG Kai
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