[PLUG] Microsoft - Key Linux contributor!

[Kaustubh Gadkari]

On Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 8:44 PM, Mayuresh <mayuresh at acm.org> wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 04, 2012 at 12:59:39PM -0600, Kaustubh Gadkari wrote:
>> On Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 11:58 AM, Mayuresh <mayuresh at acm.org> wrote:
>> > http://www.cio.in/news/microsoft-counted-key-linux-contributor-245792012
>> >
>> > Just numeric illusion I suppose.
>>
>> Why? If they contributed those many changes to the kernel, then so be
>> it - they deserve to counted as a contributor. It is what it is.
>
> No problems with that. (Look I am not a stereotype MS basher.) All that I
> mean is the numbers do not necessarily indicate _intent_ to contribute.
> You might patch a thing n times just because it broke n times, does not
> make you a better contributor than someone who contributed fewer times
> though with better quality and functionality. Just the count is not a
> measure of intent.
>

I think the count _is_ an intent to contribute. MS engineers might
have contributed several patches for one bugfix/improvement - I
haven't read the changelogs. But, the point is, so what? If it is an
area of the kernel that needed fixing/improving and the MS engineers
did it, then it needs to be acknowledged. Sometimes a fix/improvement
happens incrementally. The MS fixes were certainly not because of MS'
love of all things FOSS - in fact, they were almost certainly driven
by their economic baseline. Why does that make their kernel
contributions "bad" (for the lack of a better word)?

> They are unlikely to be doing it to help Linux/OSS prosper or something.
> They contributed to areas where they had a business interest. Hence I
> called it an illusion.
>

RedHat is a $1bn+ company. It is also one of the largest kernel
contributors. Their existence is dependent on the kernel and the
system built around it working. Would you argue that their
contributions are an illusion, since their contributions are driven by
the economic baseline as much as the need/want to evangelize FOSS?

My point is, the contributions are there, they were vetted by the head
honchos in charge of the kernel and they help enhance the kernel.
IMHO, MS's intentions are immaterial.

Kaustubh

> The fact that it helped Linux is anyway most welcome.
>
> Mayuresh.
>
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-- 
Kaustubh Gadkari