[plug] Looking for a quote

[Onno Benschop]

On Sat, 2004-06-19 at 17:35, James Devenish wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> In message <1087624417.3185.31.camel at latte.internal.itmaze.com.au>
> on Sat, Jun 19, 2004 at 03:53:38PM +1000, Onno Benschop wrote:
> > Linux is important to me because it represents a new method of
> > developing software, a new way of sharing knowledge and a new
> > avenue towards our collective future. Without Open Source, each
> > developer is doomed to repeat the mistakes of their predecessor
> > without even knowing that they did so. Open Source makes it
> > possible to build on the shoulders of giants. Linux is the most
> > visible aspect of Open Source success today.
> 
> Can I make a suggestion: is it possible to begin that paragraph without
> implying that "open source == Linux"? The first sentence suggests to the
> casual reader that Linux "is" or "was the start of" open source / open
> collaborative development. I think that informed readers would have
> sufficient flexibility in their interpretation of "represents" and "new"
> to understand the correct meaning of your paragraph. However, I feel it
> is a significant misconstruction for lay readers, and may promote other
> such misconstructions.
> 
> PS. You can probably tell from my remarks that I were a Linux advocate,
> I'd probably be a bad one ;-)

I take your point.

What I suppose I'm trying to say that it is the most visible Open Source
project today. This is likely not going to be true in the future.

I was particularly careful by using the word "represents", but if you
can suggest a stronger word, I'd be happy to hear it.


Onno Benschop 

Connected via Optus B3 at S27°52'30" - E151°16'25" (Millmerran, QLD)
-- 
()/)/)()        ..ASCII for Onno.. 
|>>?            ..EBCDIC for Onno.. 
--- -. -. ---   ..Morse for Onno.. 

Proudly supported by Skipper Trucks, Highway1, Concept AV, Sony Central, Dalcon
ITmaze - ABN: 56 178 057 063 - ph: 04 1219 8888 - onno at itmaze dot com dot au