[linux-audio-dev] Re: [linux-audio-user] Free Software vs. Open Source: Where do*you* stand?

[David Kastrup]

Lee Revell <rlrevell at joe-job.com> writes:

> On Mon, 2006-02-20 at 23:15 -0500, Pete Bessman wrote:
>
>> For the kind of stuff I'm interested in (see my above band
>> references to get an idea), I think it is eminently clear that
>> Linux isn't good enough.  Maybe it is just me, but I have been
>> struggling intensely for some time to get things to work out, and
>> it just ain't happening.  If anybody here has got some tracks that
>> can prove me wrong, I'd love to hear 'em.  And maybe I'll get back
>> to Windows world and have the same problems --- but I sincerely
>> doubt it.
>
> I think these gaps will be filled in rapidly as Linux systems with
> good RT performance get more widely deployed.  Once we get to the
> point where you can boot the latest LiveCD from any distro and get
> better latency OOTB than OSX or Windows, developers will not be able
> to resist.
>
> We are still not there yet but getting very close (months, not
> years).

There is one thing you have to be aware of: if freedom to modify and
redistribute and edit do not factor in the assessment of "best", then
of course preexisting applications will win over stuff that still has
to be written and completed.

And with regard of design and coherence and originality, a team of 5
full-time programmers is different from 50 part-time programmers.

The "Open Source" mantra that public development is tantamount with
technically superior software is putting the cart before the horse.

Software does not just fall off the trees.  Free software gives you
the opportunity to shape the state of the software you are working
with.  It puts the power into your own hand.  Whether you are in a
position to usefully wield it is a different question.

Pete complains that maybe he has listened too much to Stallman.  I am
afraid if he did, he did not understand too much.  Stallman is not a
person who promises superior quality of free software: that would be
the panacea of the "Open Software" camp.  Stallman says that he
refuses to use non-free software for ethical reasons.

He does not preach that the grass is greener on his side.  He just
refuses to be fenced in on the other side, regardless of the color of
grass.

Fighting to get free software to do the job, sharing one's
experiences, communicating with the developers all takes the state of
free software forward.  This progress remains for others to continue
with even if at one point of time you run out of steam.

-- 
David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum