Re:Redis for win32 and the Microsoft patch
by skrebbel on Friday December 09, 2011 @07:03PM
(#3336276)
In all honesty, I think antirez is a great example when it comes to open source developers who take into account needs that are more than his personal needs.
In fact, the linked article even underlines this: he perceived a user need for a Windows port, took it very much into account, and carefully wrote a blog post about why he chose not to go down that path.
I may believe that some assumptions in that blog post are too strong, but I very much think that even writing the blog post shows that antirez cares very much about stuff he's not personally helped by.
So calling antirez "short sighted" because of this is, well, IMHO, a bit beside the mark.
It's this shortsightedness in the leaders of open source endeavors, of all kinds, that can be a deterrent to outsiders. Not that it's wrong or bad to do something the way you want because it's your project and needs to fit your needs, however that said if it's to see wider adoption you have to look beyond what it is now. If a project is to be more than a personal project then it needs to take into account needs that are more than your personal needs. If the best course of action is to develop two independent projects, then so be it, but it would be foolish to dismiss the whole Windows ecosystem if one wants to see a project more widely adopted (although maybe that isn't any kind of priority, it depends on your perspective and harkens back to the frustration some people have with one personality leading a project).