Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Open source software only comes in one edition: awesome.

codinghorror.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 63 posts

Re: Open source software only comes in one edition: awesome.

#11

Post by omail »

bad_user wrote: post #7
sunir wrote: post #2

That's hardly the case. In Jeff's words, I dare you, double dog dare you to count the number of Linux distributions. Each version satisfies a different customer target, same as each version of Basecamp satisfies a different type of company.

The point is that features in a Linux distribution are not cut out because of "consumer surplus". They are customized to make certain tasks easier for some people ... but the various distributions don't have artificial limitations. Say you are tired of KDE in Kubuntu, you just "apt-get install gnome-desktop". You are tired of Apache, then "apt-get install lighttpd". Defaults are not limitations. And seriously, most p…

Not only that, if you select the wrong edition, switching to the correct edition costs less with Linux than with Windows.

Re: Open source software only comes in one edition: awesome.

#14

Post by CodeMage »

As usual, Jeff mixes different concepts, does some hand-waving and comes to a stunningly weird conclusion. What Microsoft did with artificial memory limitation is ridiculous, unless someone comes up to offer a reasonable technical explanation. However, I find it equally ridiculous to jump from there to a conclusion that open source is better because it does no market segmentation.

Let's keep one thing clear, if you're not selling your product then you won't do any market segmentation for it. You might, however, do market segmentation when it comes to offering support for that product. Does that make you as evil as Microsoft? Are 37 Signals evil because they offer different plans whose prices probably don't scale linearly with the costs behind them (in other words, they don't get the same profit across plans)?

Of course, Jeff didn't actually use the word "evil", but the implication of moral inferiority is almost palpable. Open source has many advantages (and disadvantages, too), but not segmenting the market is not one of those; rather, it's a consequence of not selling the software itself.

Re: Open source software only comes in one edition: awesome.

#16

Post by graemep »

whughes wrote: post #4
sunir wrote: post #2

That's hardly the case. In Jeff's words, I dare you, double dog dare you to count the number of Linux distributions. Each version satisfies a different customer target, same as each version of Basecamp satisfies a different type of company.

Let's just look at the list of Ubuntu editions, since that's comparable directly to Windows or Mac OS X. Ubuntu Kubuntu Edubuntu Xubuntu Lubuntu Fluxbuntu Mythbuntu Ubuntu JeOS Ubuntu MID Ubuntu Netbook Remix Ubuntu Studio

1) Not all those are official editions. 2) None have features deliberately turned off. 3) Most , if not all, differ only in what optional components are installed by default, If you change your mind you can simply add whatever your missing - you can install Ubuntu, then add the bits that make it Kubuntu, then add Xubuntu etc.

Re: Open source software only comes in one edition: awesome.

#18

Post by neilc »

sho wrote: post #17

For someone who started computing on his father's Osborne 1, hearing people casually mention that they upgraded their server to 48GB induces something like vertigo. A 768,000 fold increase in main memory. Christ we've come a long way.

And to think, hard drive seek latency has only improved by 2x or 3x.

Re: Open source software only comes in one edition: awesome.

#19

Post by bad_user »

CodeMage wrote: post #14

As usual, Jeff mixes different concepts, does some hand-waving and comes to a stunningly weird conclusion. What Microsoft did with artificial memory limitation is ridiculous, unless someone comes up to offer a reasonable technical explanation. However, I find it equally ridiculous to jump from there to a conclusion that open source is better because it does no market segmentation. Let's keep one thing clear, if you'r…

> but not segmenting the market is not one of those; rather, it's a consequence of not selling the software itself.

Consequence or not, how can it not be an advantage?

Re: Open source software only comes in one edition: awesome.

#20

Post by sho »

neilc wrote: post #18
sho wrote: post #17

For someone who started computing on his father's Osborne 1, hearing people casually mention that they upgraded their server to 48GB induces something like vertigo. A 768,000 fold increase in main memory. Christ we've come a long way.

And to think, hard drive seek latency has only improved by 2x or 3x.

The Osborne 1 didn't even have an HDD! You think HDs are slow, try 5 1/4" floppies for latency.

Anyway, SSDs soon. I will not be sorry to see the back of spinning magnetic media of any stripe.

Post reply on HN