[Fsf-friends] rebel code

Kush be_a_sport@[EMAIL-PROTECTED]
Tue Sep 26 10:36:10 IST 2006


Pls see these reviews
http://www.amazon.ca/Rebel-Code-Inside-Source-Revolution/dp/customer-reviews/0738203335

They give a better idea which i was not able to convey as well. The main 
point is that it gives ideas about trends and also is a great 
motivational book. There are so many ideas which tell how things 
happenned or why they fell in place.

It really inspires one to be good in software. e.g. i remember when I 
was in engg college in 1991 we couldn't even think of writing an 
assembler software and here in the book there is this exceptional 19 
year old who has a head start in programming and thinking of emulating 
an OS and that too Unix. Even now most of us cannot write or even think 
of designing systems software like compilers/assemblers/OS etc. There is 
a huge difference in quality among majority of our engineers and the 
normal engineers/technicians there. (when I read joelonsoftware.com 
--though its microsoft oriented, i feel we hardly know as much as these 
top chaps know) (also we are bogged down in a few open source projects 
like fonts development etc which hardly should have taken more than an 
year or two-- if there are more good indian led projects why can't a 
list be maintained for them like sourceforge.net)

There is also a huge difference in quality and mindset between what type 
of so called engineers are being produced from our educational machine 
as compared to the western education system. There those people don't 
think of themselves as engineers till they get out of 6 to 8 year 
courses (no time limit is fixed unlike the people who pass out here 
after their 3 or 4 year courses and still don't know much) and in 
between drop out or take totally different subjects e.g. Larry Wall's 
career is not typical computer science subjects at all. Thats why he was 
so innovative and PERL was produced. Linus Torvalds stayed in 
college/university for 7/8 years, some of these bright chaps completed 
Btech and then Mtech next year or same year --there are so many options 
for training, research and development there --where we don't even come 
close.

when i see such sites as 
http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/ee476/FinalProjects/ I am 
amazed. See the difference in quality between what their final year 
students produce and whats produced here (where most things are copied 
and students don't have any idea what to do till the term has already 
started)

Then it was also quite interesting to read that Linus could lead so well 
the OS kernel work maybe as a result of the 1 year compulsory army 
officer training that he opted for during university days. We have 
nothing like that here.(not many Indian geeks want to build a sound body 
to cope with the pressure of working on computers and not many people 
understand what its like to have compulsory army training) He keeps 
things in his head --photographic memory and so on (thinking on one's 
feet, the maturity in tackling conflicts or not giving offense, 
developing leaders under him automatically etc etc).

Difference between system of working with linux development as compared 
to emacs forking development etc etc-- so many management aspects are 
also revealed in the book --it can be read a few times just to 
understand and learn from such history.

I think its a great book and can really really inspire new people to 
think ambitiously.

Our drawbacks--
we have no authentic idea about the number of indian open source 
programmers/developers and whether there is an increase/decrease or 
constant number since nobody measures and nowhere in any open source 
project do we see names of Indians mentioned much. There should be some 
annual survey in some authentic Indian publication and highlighting of 
role models and good personality traits so that people understand what 
made open source/free software succeed. Spanish speakers/non english 
speakers ask more questions in forums than Indians and that shows places 
like Brazil,Mexico, Italy, East Europe, japan, korea etc are more active 
and increasing in development/computer literacy

then in college we don't share or innovate code but compete unhealthily 
against each other --this is typical indian crab mentality --teachers do 
not see this aspect and cannot think of ways to reduce this mentality 
--only highlighting positive traits/ publicly praising healthy 
competition/sharing/giving/good leadership etc etc and publicising good 
indian/foreign role models can change this negative crab mentality.

We even don't learn how humility has played such a great part in the 
open source movement--witness what one top hacker told how linus himself 
is and was so humble and encouraging which  motivated all those around 
him. Or the great traits of Richard Stallman and so on and so forth. Our 
nerds think its infra dig to help somebody else --specially if they 
don't know computers or don't know as much as them. They think that is 
macho. They have never been told that --knowledge increases the more you 
use it or give/share it. Also knowledge is one thing no thief can steal 
from you (even if they succeed in the short term  --your peers will 
eventually find out and time will compensate you unless you brood on 
that one negative thing for ever.)

There is nothing like our abominable ragging in the west --people will 
sue the institution and the authorities if that happens there because 
their justice system works. A simple thing such as highlighting local 
political godfathers in an institution or state from a different/outside 
publication can keep such things in check. By outside publication, I 
mean say if an institution in Bihar has a lot of political interference 
(political godfathers who control student union/elections/council etc) 
have a report published in a publication outside Bihar or on the web 
--make the issue transparent and the politician will have to hide/duck 
for cover and all this nonsense will reduce. We have something like 
indiavotes.org /mumbaivotes.org now coming up which is asking educated 
people to understand and take part in higher governance so that quality 
of leadership improves. A great book is here 
http://www.vcn.bc.ca/citizens-handbook/     since  good men should not 
be  aloof from society.  Einstein etc could motivate society because 
they were accessible and participative.  Indian 
scientists/researchers/hackers must contribute to society by 
participating in the community too.


Kush




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