Software Evolution

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20031023.html

Short quote:

“The lack of a roadmap for Open Source means that there can be dozens of
similar projects, some being born, some dying, and others forking into
new identities. Since there is no single architect for Open Source,
these projects all have to compete for manpower and user interest. Most
Open Source projects die, but when they do, it is a death Darwin would
understand. Every death improves the software bloodline.”

This writing of Robert X. Cringely is very beautiful. He really understands
software evolution and ecology. In this perspective proprietary software like
Windows 98/XP/2K/2K3, MS Office, BEA Weblogic, IBM MQSeries etc is having
evolution competition from Open Source software. The main question is not
“Is Open Source software is always better than proprietary software?”.
The main question is “Can proprietrary software evolve and adapt to user
needs better and faster than Open Source software?”. Facts in the field shows
Open Source software evolve and adapt to user needs better and faster than
proprietary software. There is no feature in Open Source software that is
not requested by its user. Also release cycle of Open Source software
is much faster than proprietary software. Is this means proprietary software
will extinct? Maybe not extinct but reduced in role. I mean greatly reduced. 😉