Re: NLD10 and GNOME

[Kalle Vahlman <kalle vahlman gmail com>]

On 2/8/06, Jamie McCracken <jamiemcc blueyonder co uk> wrote:
> wrt to yer blog post regarding code drops at release time,  I hope you
> and Novell can be persuaded to do more development in the open just for
> the sake of fairness (as we currently have a level playing field with
> the vast majority of Gnome software being done in the open). No one
> would complain if a small company or some individuals did stuff secretly
> but a big company like Novell should set a good example here.

Actually it is the big companies that have very extensive and tedious
legal processes in place for code, they have a lot to lose in court of
law if someone working there steals code from someone else for
example. Small companies probably won't have as much resources or
interest for screening. A good example of this is the Maemo platform
which had very slow turnup on (open source licensed) code to the svn
repository just or at least mainly because of legal checks and other
corporate stuff (or so I've gathered from the responses to community
queries about sources).

> Profit
> from open source has always centered around support and services rather
> than a panel applet or two so I doubt you will lose anything and its
> certainly not worth the loss of good community relations.

If it's just an applet or two they were making, why the fuss?-)

I mean, I'm making a theme engine (for Maemo) but haven't released
anything yet. Will you behead me for being secretive when I do or just
let it slide because I'm tweeny-tiny myself and not a big company?

Just because I want it to have more than the one widget themeing
before I realease anything?

</a bit provocative reply for which the author apologizes in advance
in case it makes anyone feel bad>

--
Kalle Vahlman, zuh iki fi
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