On 2010-08-16 12:38, Adam Tauno Williams wrote:
On Sun, 2010-08-15 at 15:00 -0400, Doug wrote:
This sort of thing keeps coming up: KDE3.x, reiserfs, etc. If something works, why does it have to be continuously "developed?"
In order to continue working; software will not 'just keep working'. Subsystems and dependencies change and the layer over them must adapt and evolve. This is one form of bitrot [which is very real]. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_rot> Unmaintained software will have no one around who can fix it when that happens. It is better to migrate in an intentional manner to new [maintained] software than to collide with an unanticipated breakage.
IMO, this is wrong. I mean, the solution used is probably the only feasible solution, but it is the incorrect one. It is like keeping the city landscape. At some time, they make a nice street, with gardens, pavement, lamps, the lot. Years pass. They neglect to hire gardeners, electricians, brick layerers. With time, the grass disappears, trees rot, pavement develops potholes and bumps, lamps do not work. Comes a new mayor. The street is put out of commission for a season, it is dismantled and rebuilt again with different trees in different places, new lamps in different places, even the places where cars and pedestrian go are interchanged - instead of having maintained it when it was due. What a good mayor we have! -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 11.2 x86_64 "Emerald" GM (Elessar))