My my, three blog entries in a single day and two more to follow. I’m on a roll here. The reason is that lots of projects are now switching from planning and design into implementation phase. My Ph.D. applications are in full swing and lots of other developments happening in life very fast this week. Gotta blog it all for future reference.
Anyways, back to the topic. We live in the IT industry. This is our life. And the industry is a winner-take-all system.
Please understand that in IT there are no half-way measures. There are three rules on which the game is based:
1. It has to work – nobody gives a damn about philosophy or principles. MAKE IT WORK! Don’t show me your face if it doesn’t work.
2. I have to be able to use it: If I have to depend on too many gurus or wierdoes, I don’t use it. Better use Windows that I can handle instead of Linux that I need to depend on Gurus to handle for me (doesn’t seem like much freedom when they begin talking).
3. If my friends are using it, then I’ll buy it: This is common. Software cannot be tested like cars. I won’t trust anything until someone else trusts it.
This is how the industry works. This is how mentality works. Mark my words on this – if and when Linux becomes the dominant OS on the Desktop, it will become the dominant OS on _all_ desktops. The IT world moves like a flock of pigeons. There won’t be a gradual transition.
Remember wordperfect? Everyone I knew used it in the early ’90′s. Then came MS Word. Everyone I knew used it. Everyone I knew used Lotus 1-2-3. Then everyone used Excel. Everyone used QBasic. Everyone used C. Everyone used VB. That’s how the world works. If your product adheres to the above three rules better than any other product, _everyone_ uses it. If it falls short, nobody uses it.
If we try to change the rules of the game, them we lose. Look at CSLinux. It was popular so long as it was Fedora-based. It ahered to the three rules above. Then came the philosophical people who moved it to Ubuntu for no reason (and even while admitting that Fedora boots up much faster, and GNOME runs deadly fast). Now, nobody is using CSLinux. And due to the low usage, volunteers don’t work since the release cycles aren’t justified anymore.
I’m going to push for a move back to Fedora. I don’t care about philosophy. I will deliver a product that works. End of story!
In complete agreement with those 3 rules. The 2nd one shows why MS hasnt closed its offices even after truck loads of criticism from every quarter
Comment by Anonymous — September 20, 2006 @ 3:24 am
You are really good at thinking and importantly putting those ideas into words. I always thought CSLinux is based on Fedora.
“”Better use Windows that I can handle instead of Linux that I need to depend on Gurus to handle for me (doesn’t seem like much freedom when they begin talking).”" : Very true.
Comment by kiran a — September 22, 2006 @ 3:23 am
Kiran, thanks for those comments. After my last post on the egoistic nature of FOSS people, I’ve been afraid of threats and criticism. Some positive comments help.
Comment by Archis — September 22, 2006 @ 11:01 am