Re: Wouter and Gergely: software monopoly vs diversity
"Eugene V. Lyubimkin" <jackyf@debian.org> writes:
> What is your vision about how many different software pieces can be
> supported by Debian as a project for each part of the software stack,
> would it be architectures, kernels, init systems, high-level package
> managers, desktop environments or something else?
In short: as many as there are enough people to support them
with. Exceptions do exist, as always.
> In other words, would you want Debian:
>
> a) concentrate more on the things people use most;
> b) or give more choices;
A little bit of both, as these choices do not always conflict.
What people use most, should be the defaults in most cases. But that
does not prevent us from offering a choice, either. However, defaults
MUST be consistent, and if choosing a new default would kill off the
ability to choose, then I would advise against that change, as freedom
of choice is in my opinion one of the great strenghts of Debian.
However, too much choice is just as bad as none at all: one gets lost in
the maze, and it's a pain to maintain such a diverse system in the long
run, both for debian developers, and for up- and downstreams alike.
Ideally, we should have a balance of choice and maintainability. Where
that balance lies, depends on a lot of factors, ranging from the quality
of the choices, to the available manpower needed to keep all of them in
good shape, and so on and so forth.
There is no silver bullet: monopoly is just as bad as too many possible
choices. Ideally, we would need to strike a good balance, and have a
little bit of both.
--
|8]
Reply to: