Re: Text processor

[Robin Miller <roblimo home com>]

"Eric S. Raymond" wrote:

> Excuse me, what planet are you from?

The one on which most people don't have red hair or life
spans long enough to learn everything they'd like to learn.
The one where the masses are easily led astray by prophets
with names like "Scudder" (or Falwell) and the best way to
inflame politicians against Libertarian moon-dwellers is to
show them pictures of mixed-race families. THAT planet. 

You've visited it once or twice, right? ;-)

Eric, c'mon. Cut me a break here. I'm an aging, overweight,
hairy copter-salesman kind of guy. I've fought wars
(literally), fixed short-order breakfasts all night at the
Waffle House, solved equations, written sonnets, balanced
accounts, set bones, comforted the dying, and all the rest.
But when I'm on the starship, I still recognize that
"Slipstick" Libby is a better navigator than I am, that
Lazarus is a better leader, and that others each have their
talents.  

Sure, specialization is for insects, but teamwork -- as in
holding together something as complicated as our current
patched-together civilization -- works better if we all go
with our strengths and prepare to back each other up as best
we can, instead of all trying to be equally competent at all
tasks.

So I'd rather con someone else into writing a top-flight
Linux text/HTML processor than doing it myself because it's
more efficient than taking the time I'd need  to acquire the
new skills I'd need to do more than a half-assed job.

Robin "Kettle Belly" Miller

> --
>                 <a href="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr">Eric S. Raymond</a>
> 
> A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion,
> butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance
> accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give
> orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem,
> pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently,
> die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
>         -- Robert A. Heinlein Time Enough for Love