[VANILLA-L:1221] Re: Futures

[James Cameron <cameron@stl.dec.com>]

Darryl Palmer wrote:
> That way the new program doesn't have to worry about the legacy chains
> of Netrek and maybe the Netrek maintainers can scarf, I mean borrow,
> ideas to make this a better game also.

This has happened before.  It is called a code fork.  A set of
developers take a base line and wander off on their own.  It isn't
necessarily bad.  Paradise was a major code fork, and it created much
needed impetus to Netrek, and some of the most useful ideas have been
back ported into the Bronco/Vanilla code base.

Please have a read of the documents on http://www.opensource.org/ to
understand the social dynamics of an open source code fork, why it
happens, when it happens, what can be done to recover.  

Some code forks are good.  FreeBSD is a successful fork from OpenBSD,
for example.  Linux has a few small forks.  A good developer recognises
them for what they can achieve.

One could almost say that Paradise has been an unsuccessful fork, in
that it has died out.  But I say that isn't the best measure of success.

-- 
James Cameron                                      (cameron@stl.dec.com)

OpenVMS, Linux, Firewalls, Software Engineering, CGI, HTTP, X, C, FORTH,
COBOL, BASIC, DCL, csh, bash, ksh, sh, Electronics, Microcontrollers,
Disability Engineering, Netrek, Bicycles, Pedant, Farming, Home Control,
Remote Area Power, Greek Scholar, Tenor Vocalist, Church Sound, Husband.

"Specialisation is for insects." -- Robert Heinlein.
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