This has been an entertaining discussion for those of us in the
peanut gallery. The diversity of opinions is quite marked. I wonder
if this is because nothing like a true manifesto has been stated as
yet. A manifesto should begin with a simple declarative statement of
a shared vision, for example:
The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.
or:
The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race.
or:
GNU [...] is the name for the complete Unix-compatible software system which I am writing so that I can give it away free [...]
(Stallman could have benefited from having Engels as an editor.)
Can anyone sum up the essence of astronomical application messaging in a single sentence? Also, what is the name of this project? GNU demonstrates the value of picking a clever name. (Linux shows the greater value of naming software in Finnish.)
Rob Seaman
NOAO
Received on 2007-04-11Z16:30:24