On Sun, 2003-04-13 at 21:58, Nicholas Parsons wrote:
But a single standard is important.
There is a single standard. It's called the file system API, and all linux file systems implement it. That's why you don't need a specific version of "cp" for XFS and one for reiser.
If you have too many ideas floating around being implemented then you could have total chaos. End up having 20 different programs that all do the same thing incorrectly.
Not "end up". If you are in that situation, eventually one project will get it right, and the rest will adopt it. But in the case of file systems you have 20+ projects, each doing the same thing in its own way, all of them correct but with different levels of performance.
Focusing all attention on one project instead of 4 or 5 would be much better for the software community in the long run.
No, in fact I think it's just the opposite. It may be better in the short run, but in the long run I think it's the way to certain >death.
Certain death? Thats what microsoft did, and I don't think they are dead right now. As a matter of fact isn't Bill Gates one of the richest people in the world?
The long run for them hasn't arrived yet. And it's actually not what Microsoft did. They are one company working on one set of projects. Saying that Microsoft focused on one idea is like saying KDE focused on one idea. There are other file systems for win32, they're just not coming from Microsoft.