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Re: Bye Bruce

Hi,
>>"Richard" == Richard Sevenich <rsevenic@blinn.sirti.org> writes:

Richard> Well, OK - I'll stick with Debian despite Bruce's departure -
Richard> for a while longer. The developers would miss folks like me
Richard> who ask those naive questions. You can't be elite if no one
Richard> notices.

	Hmm. Elitism is not really a strong motivating force for
 me. Sharing with what I percive to be my community is. People asking
 questions is good: for people who ask questions shall one day be
 contributors to the community. Developers did not spring to this
 earth tapping code with both hands.

Richard> Bruce provided a type of leadership (yes, I know Ian took
Richard> over some time ago) that was reassuring to the users. He was
Richard> the only 'official' bridge between the users and the
Richard> developers. Again - he provided reassurance to us users, that
Richard> there was a direction in the anarchic creativity. And he made
Richard> the developers look good to us users.

	Yes, Bruce has done stellar wortk that shall be sorely
 missed. However, I think of Bruce stepping up to another level: now
 he is unfettered by us, the developers (aka the rat pack or herd of
 cats), and can help the cause of free softwware as a whole.

	I think this is a good thing for free software.

	As to developing a bridge with the community, it shall be well
 nigh impossible to fill Bruces shoes in that aspect. but a few of us
 shall, in our own bumbling way, try to do so.

	As a start: please remember, the Debian Free software Guide
 lines, and the social contract, though created under Bruces Aegis,
 have been ratified by all the developers; and we have no intention of
 turning our backs on this (I do not speak for all developers, but I
 have a reasonably good contact with the set, and there can be no
 doubt about this sentiment).

Richard> It may be that his work with SPI is crucial to Linux success
Richard> and he'll do more for Debian there than here - in the long
Richard> run.

	I hope that is the case.

Richard> My guess is that I've been instrumental (as an academician)
Richard> in introducing Linux to perhaps 100 to 200 young people. I
Richard> recommend Debian, but RedHat is slicker and more
Richard> attractive. It's like watching your teenager start dating -
Richard> they go for the attractive package. And RedHat is good, so
Richard> I'm torn. I'm torn because I want these young folks to
Richard> experience the instant gratification which underlies
Richard> (undermines?) our culture. Otherwise, They'll just go back to
Richard> watching TV.

	I think useability and scalability to be strongly on our
 minds; we have tried hard to make Debian easier to use. We are
 attempting to make installations easier, and make tasks like PPP
 configuration more automated.

	Even though the relplacement for  dslect did not make this
 release; it shall be in 2.1.

	Aso remember, unlike 1.3 and 2.0; there is not going to be a
 libc incompatibility; and peole running the new stable distribution
 can upgrade a single package to the unstable version (so you may
 indeed get to play eith the dselect replacement before 2.1).

Richard> I realize that we're not overt competitors of RedHat and that
Richard> we wish them well for the sake of linux - but Debian aspires
Richard> to be the ideal - non-commercial, free, and excellent. When a
Richard> slick package like kde is easily installed on RedHat, but
Richard> difficult with Debian - some folks get confused. Yes, I know
Richard> kde is impure because of qt - but it's slick. Slick is good
Richard> for some.

	Well, KDE is supposed to be there on Debian. Unfortunately, we
 have been having problems with it -- the volunteer who initially
 worked on it ran out of free time, and more than one new volunteers
 have not been able to comlete the task either.

	Yes, this is just an excuse. 

	But there are some drawbacks to a free, volunteer project liek
 this. And one of the drawbacks is that we promote free software over
 a slicker, non-free (non free as defined by hte DFSG) package.

	I do not apologize for the DFSG. I am sorry, though, that you
 feel Debian is diminished because of that decision.

Richard> At any rate, good luck Bruce - we'll miss you. And, sincere
Richard> thanks to all the developers - despite my gibes. You are the
Richard> heart of debian.

	Thank you.

	manoj

Richard> P.S. Can this qualify to start a flame war?

 Heh. You have led a sheltered life.

-- 
 Earnestness alone makes life eternity.  -- Carlyle
Manoj Srivastava  <srivasta@acm.org> <http://www.datasync.com/%7Esrivasta/>
Key C7261095 fingerprint = CB D9 F4 12 68 07 E4 05  CC 2D 27 12 1D F5 E8 6E


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