How not to develop ANY software, let alone Open Source
Tuesday, 17 January 2006I’ve just finished reading an article entitled Open Source Development and How-To Protect Your Investment in Time. Before I started I figured it was going to be an article on the more commercial friendly Open Source licenses. Boy, was I in for a shock.
Instead of espousing the virtues of choosing an appropriate OS license to cover your code, the developer in question suggests that you…
…spend as much time as possible working on each “product” … to make sure the code was as complex as possible and that the code covered as many “features” as possible so that nobody would ever want to spend any amount of time working on the code
This ‘experienced’ developer with 30 years of software development under his seems to be advocating obfuscation through complexity for projects released under an Open Source license. He’s afraid that someone will pick up his code and actually improve it, so he’s purposefully making his code complex to put off would-be contributors. Nice!
To attempt to back up his argument he uses one of the most prolific Open Source projects, Linux. He goes on to say…
This is the goal I think the Linux developers have used and very successfully. Oh sure, anyone can obtain Linux Source Code and look at it but I have no doubt the Linux Source Code is pretty complex either in terms of the amount of code or the depth of the development required to do serious work with it.
I’ll go out on a limb here and agree that the Linux code probably is very complex. However, it’s not complex because the development team wants to stop others from developing the code; it’s complex because an operating system is a very complex thing to code.
Hypocrisy, it seems, is not beneath him either. He’s taken on Ray Camden’s Open Source BlogCFC and allegedly improved it, releasing it under the name Rabid_BlogCFC. Obviously Ray was kind enough to NOT make his code so complex as to put other developers off. For what it’s worth, I wouldn’t go near this guy’s product which is why I’ve not linked directly to it. If you’re after this sort of thing, go download Ray Camden’s version instead.
I have no idea who wrote this article, but in my opinion they need to take a serious look at their attitude to software development. I certainly wouldn’t want to work with this person on any project of any size, and I’d be surprised in anyone else did either. This is the kind of petty-mindedness that leads to developers hoarding their code and not letting anyone else work on it because it is ‘theirs’, and those people make me angry.
Remember, advice is not good advice if it’s bullshit.
I read that article a couple of times. I kept
Keith Peters | Tuesday, 17 January 2006 | 2:46 pmI read that article a couple of times. I kept telling myself it had to be poorly executed satire. But I can’t shake the feeling that he was dead serious.
Oh man -- been following the posts on this off-and-on
Aral Balkan | Tuesday, 17 January 2006 | 4:13 pmOh man — been following the posts on this off-and-on today and I believe I’ll remember the name “Ray Horn” for a long time…
I just hope people understand that his views are not shared by those of us actually developing Open Source software and contributing to Open Source in general.
Do you think his 30 years experience has made him
John Giotta | Tuesday, 17 January 2006 | 4:14 pmDo you think his 30 years experience has made him bitter about OS development?
I’d think the less complex it is means less support I’ll need to provide.
Does he not provided proper documentation too?
Why does he even want to open-source his stuff anyway?
Chris Sperry | Tuesday, 17 January 2006 | 4:16 pmWhy does he even want to open-source his stuff anyway? A simple solution for him would be to forget that open-source is even an option, right?
I get it now. He needs open source as the
Chris Sperry | Tuesday, 17 January 2006 | 4:22 pmI get it now. He needs open source as the “inspiration” for his own “open source” products.
I suspect he wants the political benefits of running an
Steve | Tuesday, 17 January 2006 | 4:24 pmI suspect he wants the political benefits of running an ‘Open Source’ project without actually having to open his source code.
Thank you, Ray Horn, for this invaluable piece of literature. Maybe you’d like to try another profession if this one has made you so jaded?
cough http://rayhornsucks.onesite.com/
JesusWept | Tuesday, 17 January 2006 | 9:56 pmcough http://rayhornsucks.onesite.com/
More on this subject: http://www.robgonda.com/blog/index.cfm/2006/1/17/CF-developer-with-30-years-of-horrible-experience
Rob Gonda | Wednesday, 18 January 2006 | 4:09 amMore on this subject: http://www.robgonda.com/blog/index.cfm/2006/1/17/CF-developer-with-30-years-of-horrible-experience
The Rabid Human doesnt allow any comments on his site,but
fenin | Wednesday, 18 January 2006 | 4:50 amThe Rabid Human doesnt allow any comments on his site,but visit other blogs to reply to the comments people make there!!Aint that lame?
It just doesn't make any sense. Why even consider using
Josh Tynjala | Wednesday, 18 January 2006 | 5:56 pmIt just doesn’t make any sense. Why even consider using an open source license if you don’t want people using your source? What a leech.