Re: [tlug] Re: Alan Cox's remark at Fosdem

[simon colston <simon@example.com>]

Uva Coder wrote:
> I think what separates the Bell Labs (BL) open source operating
> systems from the GNU based open source operating systems is
> discernment. This discernment comes from a philosophy.

I came across this article yesterday:
http://www.linuxmagazine.com/content/view/59/115/
which indicates Linus Torvald's appreciation of Bell Labs discernment too.

> 
> An example of the difference is where a utility should to do one job
> and do it well. For instance, an utility should not attempt to be a
> swiss knife (e.g., tar -xzvf file.tar.gz).  

While I agree with that I don't agree with this.

 > Along these lines we do
> not need a plethroa of mailers; just one mailer that works right.

It is also nice to have a choice.  Also good, healthy competition can 
improve projects too.

-- 
simon colston