Hi Mike,
On Wed, Jan 05, 2000 at 03:53:26AM -0500, Mike A. Harris wrote:
> This brings up a point: Why do developers of the kernel, or any
> other software project for that matter - give bunk projected
> release dates at all? It introduces the "vaporware" concept, and
[snip]
> Since this is unlikely to change, why not just stop projecting
> the release dates entirely? It is something unpredictable.
> A lot of major companies flat out refuse to give dates on things
> because they don't want dissappointed customers when the date
> can't be met. Why don't we all take the same approach too?
> After all, the date of release is not going to be forced due to
> bad projections giving expectations right?
>
> So, my whole point here is: Do not project the major kernel
> release dates as it is bad press.
Its important to have target release dates because how you approach
development changes as you move toward the release. You have to start
a feature freeze and then a code freeze and you need a release date
target to know when to do this.
I suspect the commercial companies you refer to do have release dates that
they give their own people. They just might not give them out to the general
public. It would be difficult to make this distinction with an open project
like Linux.
You are right though. It is a PR problem that would be nice to solve. Its
not nearly the problem for Linux as it is for Mozilla though, probably because
there is a smaller and more informed group of people watching the Linux kernel
progress.
I find it interesting that Linux is often used as an example of how fast
open source projects can generate code considering that kernel releases are
typically 1 to 2 years after the date that Linus first predicts (how many
times did we hope for 1.0 by Christmas). I do not think Linux development is
any slower than most other SW projects (open or closed), but I am not sure
its any faster either.
Jim
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jan 07 2000 - 21:00:03 EST