Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Open Source Projects and quality...

Author:Doc Searls
Posted:8/26/1999; 9:53:55 AM
Topic:Opening Up Linux Journal and O'Reilly
Msg #:9957 (In response to 9935)
Prev/Next:9956 / 9958

About ESR, I think he's an opportunist. He's a dark leader. A fanatic. Not a contributor.

Nearly all of what I know about open source I've learned from Eric Raymond. For thinking on the topic, he's damn near the only contributor.

He's also open and welcoming of other views. I may be wrong, but I see my own ideas and feedback reflected in part of The Magic Cauldron.

Yeah, so he's very rah-rah and a devout partisan for open source. Good for him. Good for the whole conversation we're having here and all over the industry.

The only problem is that there is only one of him. Look at the stuff this guy is bringing up! Distinctions between use and sale value. Gift cultures. Peer review and reputation incentives. Taxonomies of hacker ideology. Exquisite contradictions. And how about all that stuff you love in Cluetrain? The two biggest influences on my hunk of the upcoming Cluetrain book are George Lakoff and Eric Raymond. And as I chop the draft down to size, Eric's is the stuff that survives.

Y'know who the first two people to sign up for Cluetrain were? Dave Winer and Eric Raymond.

You're both digging and thinking and asking tough questions. You both piss people off and make things change. You both think and make other people do the same. We wouldn't even be talking about this if it wasn't for Eric. And you.

Hmmm.... Can I get you guys on a stage to debate?

I'm serious about that.

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