X-Message-Number: 17286 Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 16:35:50 -0400 From: Wesley Eddy <> Subject: Re: Cryonet #17277 Anarchy is bad? --Y1L3PTX8QE8cb2T+ Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In Cryonet #17277, Yvan Bozzonetti wrote: > Anarchy is the contrary of herarchy, it is not disorder, it is an > organization without herarchy. Politic systems, military ones or corporations > are example of herarchy. Religions are another. Anarchy is similar to self > organizing system, the Open Source/ GNU project in computing is a form of > anarchy. It has produced Linux for example, not an inferior product if you > look at its herarchy competitor: Windows. The claim that Linux development is anarchic is a complete and utter lie. First of all, you're comparing apples to oranges, and secondly if you were to compare the software development process to governmental systems, Linux kernel development would be much more monarchy as all patches go through the man (Linus) himself for the current tree, or through Alan Cox or one of the other leaders for the older trees. There is a set hierarchy of control to decide what goes into the kernel. It is not in any way anarchic. You're confusing the freedom to distribute/modify/profit from Linux as freedom from control. In any case, this isn't really a discussion that should continue on Cryonet, but I think that any self-respecting member of the open source movement would find your claims quite offensive. > Napster was an anarchy song distributor at the origin, it has now been > converted to business/herarchy, not a good thing for liberty or distribution > efficiency. This is also not true. Napster clients connect to a central server and always have. That central sever has full control over what can be served, to whom it may go, and every other aspect of the network. A true peer-to-peer network like gnutella for example is much more like an anarchy though. The word 'anarchy' tends to carry with it quite a bit of negative imagery, so it's not wise to just haphazardly toss it around and use it to label things which are decidedly very ordered and controlled. -Wes -- "I can't see too well, what's it all about? I don't know man, did you poke your eyes out?" -Angry Samoans, "Lights Out" --Y1L3PTX8QE8cb2T+ Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.4 (SunOS) Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org iD8DBQE7et0lzBuYqbnj3IwRArloAJ0ZMtuW6DkXJsa4qdbNH5jCKOCR9wCcCG5R Q+C9JiLIGcmOz3g9PaXfGQw=Hrb4 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --Y1L3PTX8QE8cb2T+-- Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=17286