Re:Eric Raymond's 'The Cathedral and the Bazaar' Turns 19
by bhandziuk on Monday May 23, 2016 @03:27PM
(#11756204)
Maybe not from that one product (a single cathedral) but after it has been built knowledge has been gained on how to create flying buttressed, move stone around efficiently, build a foundation, etc. So if you had another large project you could benefit from this gain in societal knowledge.
Re:Eric Raymond's 'The Cathedral and the Bazaar' Turns 19
by smhenderson on Monday May 23, 2016 @03:47PM
(#11756358)
Well the people that built those cathedrals generally kept the techniques of masonry a secret. Sure, people were free to use the fruits of their labors (for various shades of free) but that knowledge wasn't generally made available to all when the cathedral was finished. If you wanted another cathedral you had to go to the same (or similar) people who built the first one.
Masons of the time closely guarded their secrets, like source code from a vendor like Microsoft, Oracle, etc...
With respect to free software though, the pertinent aspect of these architectures is the forkability. Once the cathedral is designed, there is no room for anything off script. You can't have your own services in the cathedral on Tuesday nights.
But if you don't like the way your meat lady treats her chickens, you can just open up your own poultry stand across the path from her. There isn't a central plan. The plan emerges from the voluntary action of the participants.