Re: Proposed enhancement to scp

From: Steve Turner (bbqboyee_at_H2OlooWoodworks.com)
Date: 02/26/04 

Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 18:44:26 GMT

Dimitri Maziuk wrote:

> Steve Turner sez:
>
> ... Where would GNU software be today if
>
>>they had decided that making improvements on the original code was a bad
>>idea?
>
>
> Exactly where it is now -- in "Not Unix" land.

I think you're wrong; I don't think it would be "anywhere". People only
move to new software if there is a compelling reason to do so. Whether
or not software is "free" is not a very strong motivator; if GNU hadn't
continually offered BETTER versions of standard Unix tools, I doubt that
it would have gotten very far.

> FYI, one of the first lines in openssh license reads "there is no
> GNU code here". Just letting you know.

Ok, but I don't really see how that relates to the discussion. I only
used GNU as an example of "Continuous improvement helps lead to software
that people actually continue to use". As is stands now, I've gotten
nothing but resistance to the idea of making a simple (and I think
elegant) enhancement to a tool that does a very useful job but doesn't
really do it *well*. 

-- 
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