Re: State of the GNUnion 2020

[Alexandre François Garreau]

Le jeudi 20 février 2020, 05:08:13 CET DJ Delorie a écrit :
> Jean Louis <bugs@gnu.support> writes:
> > * DJ Delorie <dj@delorie.com> [2020-02-19 21:01]:
> >> "Kaz Kylheku (gnu-misc-discuss)" <936-846-2769@kylheku.com> writes:
> >> > On 2020-02-17 12:37, Andy Wingo wrote:
> >> >> Thought experiment: what would GNU be if all of its packages
> >> >> stopped
> >> >> developing?  Dead, right?
> >> > 
> >> > The immediate effect would become more of a stable base for the
> >> > vast
> >> > amount of material that depends on it.
> >> 
> >> For about a month or so, until the next bug, security problem, or
> >> missing feature were reported... then people would switch to whatever
> >> software was responsive to these problems.  If GNU doesn't respond,
> >> someone will eventually fork the software (because they can :) and
> >> GNU
> >> would lose users.
> > 
> > When people continue developing free software it is a win, not loss.
> 
> The question wasn't "what would free software be?"  it was "what would
> GNU be?"
> 
> There are a lot of projects that are free software but not GNU.  If
> people choose to work on those projects instead of GNU, GNU loses, even
> if free software wins.

Certainly GNU loses something (if ever they intended and had the ability 
to do as such constructively and most usefully), but not loses absolutely.

GNU would start losing *at all* if people started to choose to *use* other 
project instead of GNU.  Like, invent a language, and use LLVM instead of 
GCC (more than “wanting to contribute a compiler, and contribute to LLVM 
rather than to GCC”, especially as it never happens that way: you 
contribute to what you use, not the opposite).