Re: Client Compliance

Brian Behlendorf (brian@wired.com)
Thu, 25 Aug 1994 19:08:08 -0700 (PDT)


On Thu, 25 Aug 1994, Daniel W. Connolly wrote:
> But I personally prefer the Linux development model: a motivated
> individual senses a need, and takes the initiative. If thier specialty
> is technical, they write the code. If they're effective communicators,
> the write doc. If they're good organizers, they coordinate the effort.
>
> The WWW is much the same. Folks that see a need march forward and fill
> it.
>
> Your choice is to wait until commercial entities fill the void. If you
> wait for that, you deserve what you get. :-{

The problem being that there are many things that can't be done
unilaterally - I can't introduce a new HTTP element and have everyone
enjoy its benefits, I can't create a new HTML entity and have the browsers
out there understand it, etc. This is of course false if I have control
over both the most popular server and the most popular browser, as one
group of developers enjoyed at one point, but we have since learned that
this is not the development model we want to pursue. (haven't we?) We are
limited to the "building a better mousetrap" model of development right
now - which isn't all that bad, as there is still a LOT of work left to do
there.

Brian