Robert McLaws: FunWithCoding.NET

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Dittoheads Unite!

If any of you have not yet had time to take in the wonder that is Neopoleon.com, stop what you're doing and go check it out. Today, Rory talks about being called a "Microsoft Dittohead Blogger", and why OSS != innovation. Some quotes of note:
It's this sort of thing that made it easy not to look back when I was walking away from the open source world. People complain about the signal to noise ratio in the .Net world, but without spending time in some OSS forums, you don't know the meaning of the word "noise."

At the PDC, I spent four days in closer proximity to the "Mother Ship" than ever before in my life, and I can't think of a single time when anyone said anything bad about OSS. We were all busy oooooohing and ahhhhhing over the incredibly cool stuff that MS is coming out with - there wasn't time or the impetus to stop and have some pimple-popping "Enterprise vs. Star Destroyer" argument.

It's very interesting to see these sentiments from a former member of the Open Source "community". It leads me to say just one thing: Hey, Open Source! Shut up and innovate!
Posted: Nov 09 2003, 02:17 PM by interscape | with 6 comment(s)

Comments

Dave said:

OTOH, maybe they are too busy providing solutions that work TODAY and not in 2 years.

Seriously, my only issue with S/N is - IMHO - centered around _this_ forum.... weblogs@asp.net. Check out the main RSS feed from gotdotnet, compare it to this one. My... God. This past week alone... how many posts about "I'm installing Longhorn...", "I've installed Longhorn..."? How many posts critiquing the latest Matrix movie?

I'm only glad I didn't subscribe to the comment feeds... then it WOULD be like spending time in a forum.
# November 9, 2003 4:58 PM

Dave said:

Hey, one more thing - now that I read Neopolean.com. Exactly what does this rant - or many other posts - have to do with "shut up and innovate"? You and him could stand to quit bellyaching about MS versus Open Source and take a page from your book... speak of things relevant to providing solutions using .NET _today_.
# November 9, 2003 5:01 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Dave,

I guess you haven't seen my articles on developing server controls (under the "Builder.com Articles" links on the left), or my posts on accessing data type information from an IDataReader. I guess you didn't know that I'm creating a community resource for building server controls, or that I'm writing a huge series on "Whidbey-izing" your 1.X controls today. I guess you didn't know that GenX.NET uses some of the same concepts that will be found in Whidbey, using an extremely similar architecture that will be found in Yukon.

The funny thing is, all of that stuff is right here in my weblog.

I could ask what YOU'VE been doing about building .NET solutions today. The problem is, you never link to anything that you've done in your comments, so it's basically impossible to tell.
# November 9, 2003 5:31 PM

SBC said:

My recent post about Open So(u)r(c)e - http://weblogs.asp.net/sbchatterjee/posts/34057.aspx
# November 9, 2003 7:15 PM

Rory said:

[Note - I kind of went off in this comment. You have my apologies, Mr. McLaws, if I went on a bit too long :)]

"Exactly what does this rant - or many other posts - have to do with 'shut up and innovate'?"

Well, Dave - For one thing, your camp lost *me*. Granted I was just using the technology and not really improving it, but I'm still a fun guy to have at parties, so that's down the tubes.

"You and him could stand to quit bellyaching..."

I don't do much bellyaching about OSS vs. The Universe. I wouldn't have said anything at all if one of my posts hadn't been linked to from an OS forum in a rather insulting manner.

I'm already regretting having posted the damn thing just because it's attracted a bit of attention, and I, admittedly, am getting caught up in the argument.

It's 9:46 PM PST. I should be getting one last glimpse at Longhorn before hitting the sack, but I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it because some stupid part of me believes that it's important to communicate to the universe that it's entirely possible to lovs MS and not hate OSS, that you can like Coke *and* Pepsi, and be pro-life *and* pro-choice at the same time. People might not like either side, but the sides aren't mutually exclusive, and devoting an inordinate amount of time to fighting for either one means ditching what's *really* important (the coding) and wasting it doing... well, what I'm doing right now.

I took offense to being called a Microsoft "dittohead" because I'm vocal about how much I enjoy what MS is doing right now. I'm not a newbie - I've been coding since 1983, and I've pretty much seen it all. What MS is doing now may not be brand-spanking new, but I don't care. It's making my life as a devloper better, and *that's* why I support it. Not because I'm a "dittohead." I was a Linux/Apache/Tomcat guy before .NET rolled in. However, I never bashed MS during the Java days. For me, it's always been about the technology (although I'm going to have to be really honest here and say that the MS nerds I've met have been the coolest, most secure nerds I've ever encountered, which makes it possible to discuss technology with them rather than "movements" - a social feature for which I am very thankful).

Trust me. If some other company came out with competing technology that won me over, I'd trade camps in a heartbeat. The technology is what convinces me. I could care less about the lawsuits. That stuff is *going to happen*, and there's nothing you can do about it. The money that's trading hands is so far beyond anything you could understand that it's pointless to try and get in the way. While the lawyers fight, the rest of us might as well make the most of the situation and play with the cool toys.

Anyway, unfortunately for the other companies that have competing technology, I've seen Longhorn, and it's going to be an uphill struggle winning my heart away from MS...

OK - Maybe I'm doing a *little* bellyaching here :)

Sorry about the wandering nature of this comment. Passion has mixed with a rather large German dinner (I have the "food stupids"), and I'm pretty much out of my mind at the moment.
# November 10, 2003 1:07 AM

Robert McLaws said:

No need to apologize Rory, I'm honored. And call me Rob. Or "Hey, you!" Whatever works.

The "Genius of AND" reigns once again! Very well put.
# November 10, 2003 1:13 AM