>BUT take a look at http://www.ssc.com/linux/Eric/cathedral-paper.html !
>It does make sense to publish half finished, deficient code. If it works
>for a big project like Linux, why not for POV-Ray? I really don't understand
>why the povteam doesn't take advantage of the big number of povray users
>with programming skills. 
>
>As mentioned in the article there should always be two versions: a stable
>one and an experimental one. In the case of POV-Ray this is currently
>version 3.02 and 3.1b. Since the source code is availible for final versions,
>it is already possible to screw it up and provide it to the net. Why are
>the povteam members so frighten to show a partly finished product and
>use the work of others that results from this publication? In my honest
>opinion POV-Ray is a perfect candidate for a bazaar style development.
>The povteam would still be the source of stable versions and the central
>point for exchange - just like Netscape for the Navigator.

Speaking *only* for myself, I don't want to see CD distributors make profit from the
work I have done. And exactly this is happening with Linux - look at the cost of CD
distributions. They range from 20 DM to about 100 DM (here in Germany about $12 -
$60). Multiply this with lets say 10000 copies and perhaps 4 new CDs per year, you get
easily more than $1.000.000 for the large distributions. OK, lets say you have to pay
20% of the cost for the CDs, packaging etc, and another 30% ($300.000) and you can
emply 10 people to update the CDs, another $100.000 for a 4 MBit internet connection
(per year). AND then you make still $400.000 profit!!! (Without having done any work
yourself!)

Well, thats just an example, and even if you find that the calculation is wrong, do
you think the companies do it for no profit?

And it is still a lot of work just for Eduard, Anton and me to keep out Macintosh
sources in sync...imagine 20 people working on it. POV-Ray is a "small" project
compared to Linux, it would be very difficult to direct work for more than 100 people!

This is just *my* opinion.


Thorsten

____________________________________________________
Thorsten Froehlich, Duisburg, Germany

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