A program? and Project 'Government'

[Matthew Tuck]

Ursula Dreier wrote:

> I have MSVC++ 5.0, but if need be I'll switch to GNU C++.I'm not sure
> whether STL is the same in GNU C++ and MSVC++, but there shouldn't be
> a problem to replace MS with GNU as long as we don't use MS specific
> stuff (hope that won't happen for a long time).

Heh, well someone with a big stick should be enough.

> If we want to go that way, selecting this person won't be easy. It
> should be someone with great experience yet open minded and he/she
> should have a lot of time to spare. As long as the project has as few

I don't know about the time of other project maintainers, but I think
most have jobs and do it in their spare time.  To a degree that's why
the subsystem maintainers exist.  Anyway, look at the link in another
message, plus:

http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/writings/homesteading/

> active members, I think we should give democracy a try. I would like
> the idea to prove that democracy works even in a field that is as
> burdened with matters of taste as software design (strange thing,
> given the very nature of the trade being all about logic...). There
> should be room for "minorities" as long as the overall approach won't
> be spoiled too much by this. Hey, it should be *fun* after all -
> always keep that in mind. If we see that it doesn't work well,
> there will still be enough time to change our minds.

Then we need some plan of action to avoid the town council effect. 
Would democratic government work if everyone was constantly having their
say?  It's a great ideal, but I don't think it would work.

-- 
     Matthew Tuck - Software Developer & All-Round Nice Guy
                              ***
       Check out the Ultra programming language project!
              http://www.box.net.au/~matty/ultra/