Daniel Robbins hired by M$

[Rob Sutherland]

marius wrote:

>On 6/14/05, Robert Brockway <rbrockway-wgAaPJgzrDxH4x6Dk/4f9A at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>  
>
>>
>>I don't think so.  OSS is developed by tens of thousands of dedicated
>>developers and the number is growing rapidly.  MS is only picking up a few
>>of the more famous people (and even then only a small minority).  I don't
>>see their hiring efforts having any effect on the growth of OSS.
>>    
>>
>
>Judging by the number of orphans on SourceForge, losing one or two key
>developers is enough to slow or shut down an OSS project.
>
>  
>
Project != Movement

>It's true that most large projects have dozens of developers with
>potential replacements eagerly waiting in the wings, however most OSS
>projects are run by a handful of people.
>
>Even some of the high-profile projects are identified with and driven
>by only a couple of programmers. Would Samba survive if Tridge left?
>Sure. Would the project be set back for a considerable amount of time?
>Definitely.
>
>  
>
No one stays on a project forever, whether they get hired by M$, hit by 
a bus
or flee into the night seeking whiskey and sin. I'd say Open Source has  
too
much momentum for individual losses to make a large difference. This may 
well
be Microsoft waking up and trying to do some ingesting a la IBM, but I 
doubt it's
the apocalypse.

Rob

Rob Sutherland - rob-HoWcdTCbwWKHoZZAE0nKLw at public.gmane.org
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