Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!sunybcs!boulder!hao!oddjob!mimsy!cvl!elsie!nih-csl!keith
From: keith@nih-csl.UUCP (keith gorlen)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: GNU Ramblings, Unix thoughts.
Summary: A rebuttal
Keywords: Gnu Unix Operating Systems Compatibility Support
Message-ID: <296@nih-csl.UUCP>
Date: 6 Jan 88 23:31:54 GMT
References: <153@mozart.UUCP> <1351@sugar.UUCP> <850@elmgate.UUCP>
Organization: NIH-CSL, Bethesda, MD
Lines: 84

In article <850@elmgate.UUCP>, ram@elmgate.UUCP (Randy Martens) writes:
> 
> Well folks, it's time for me to insert my 2 pfennigs worth into this
> discussion.  For your reference, I have been programming for ten years,
> much of it in 'C', and much of it on UNIX or UNIX-like systems.

> From a professional standpoint, I wouldn't touch GNU with a 10 metre LAN
> cable.
> 
> Why ?  Let me explain by way of example.

> I recently bought a new car.
[...questionable analogy between cars and software follows...]

> Now, lets look at GNU :

Yes, let's take a look at GNU EMACS, the part of GNU that's been
around the longest.

> - It will not be backed by any company.  Admittedly, some companies
> do not do a good job of supporting their users, especially in the software
> arena.  If a company is to survive and prosper, it must give good service,
> no matter if it is selling software, shoe polish, or cars.  And giving
> good service costs money.  Which means the company must make money.  Which
> means it CANNOT possibly function on the basis of giving it's product away.

GNU EMACS has been ported to different machines and marketed with
support by one or two companies that I've heard of.  I think that, at
least outside the PC mass market, adequate software support cannot be
financed by software sales -- customers must pay specifically for
software service, and that is how a company makes some of it's profit.

Free software, like GNU EMACS, also effectively gets backed by "the
public".  It is good and it is free, so lots of people use it.  Since
lots of people use it, it is well-tested.  If someone finds a bug, he
can use the net to see if someone has a fix.  If someone fixes a bug,
he has an incentive to send it to the FSF so it gets incorporated into
future releases and he won't have to install it again.  Everyone
benefits.  It works because there is a network and a central
organization willing to act as a coordinator and clearinghouse.  You
can see the same phenomenon happening with X Windows.

Prior to switching to GNU EMACS, I had purchased two commercial
versions of EMACS, and I also paid for support service for one of
them.  There was absolutely NO CONTEST as to the quality of the
software.  On one commercial version such features as mail, directory
edits, and subshells never worked.  On the other, regular expressions
and the extension language didn't work.  The company wouldn't/couldn't
fix the problem, even though I had a "support" agreement.

GNU EMACS, on the other hand, has worked almost flawlessly for us from
the beginning.

> - There will be no standard version.

The version distributed by FSF is the standard.  Users are discouraged
from modifying it because (1) it does practically everything already, and
(2) local modifications create a maintenance headache.

> Mr. Stallman says that companies will step in
> to provide support for GNU.  I don't see this happening.

I have seen this begin to happen with GNU EMACS.

> And even if some
> company markets "Fred's Gnu - with support services", the I am in the same
> position as if I had bought any other operating system, and Gnu's advantages
> have been erased.

Not so.  In a pinch, you have source code.  You can fix the problem
yourself, or hire a consultant to do it.  One project of mine almost
died because the outfit that sold me a compiler couldn't make it work
(I had paid for a support contract), and I had no recourse.

> - Lastly, I will generally not care if I get the system sources for a piece
> of code or not.  If it works as advertised, and is supported, the damn thing
> can be written in Bulgarian for all I care.

Those are big "ifs" in my experience.
-- 
	Keith Gorlen			phone: (301) 496-5363
	Building 12A, Room 2017		uucp: uunet!ncifcrf.gov!nih-csl!keith
	National Institutes of Health	Internet: keith%nih-csl@ncifcrf.gov
	Bethesda, MD 20892