Subject: RE: [hackers-il] RFC: A $20 million for the "Better CVS" Fund

From: Chen Shapira <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 09:35:11 +0200

Hi,

I would love to know where you got the figure of 20 million dollar. 
I believe you got it from your random number generator.

I believe that source-control is an area where open-source has a distinct
advantage over closed commercial products. As the ClearCase found out, many
companies need to manage large amounts of code, and they are forever
tweaking their source-control product to fit their evolving needs.

Our company actually developed in-house source control software. Its pretty
good, and gets better each quarter. It didn't cost us even near to 20 mil.
In fact, we develop it because its relatively cheap to develop, and our
system does source-control, builds and installations. Its scriptable in
shell, perl and vb. 

Also, if you manage to justify your figure, I suggest you also add a small
schedule. Is it 20 mil. for a year? for 5 years? List of features you may
have there will also shed some light on the matter. I believe I once heard
that the avg. start-up needs about 1-2 million dollars per year. 20 mil.
sounds outragous in those terms.

Thanks,
Chen

---

From: Shlomi Fish <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 09:56:13 +0300 (IDT)

> I believe you got it from your random number generator.

I did not. My original approximation was $100 million. However, I believed
20 million was more realistic. Developing a "fine" source control
management like CVS or Perforce is something that can done quite easily I
suppose. Developing a kickas source control system like BitKeeper or Aegis
is something that requires a lot of time.

After I started using BitKeeper, I could still use CVS, but BK was
obviously slicker and felt much nicer than CVS. I suggest you try
BitKeeper, and then tell me if it is not superior to your in-house
solution.

Another point is that I'm trying to aim high so that even if I'll receive
a relatively small amount, I could still do something with that.

I personally despise the idea of in-house software like that which is not
brought to the outside. Call me an old fashioned software developer who
likes the discpline involved in making a software shrinkwrap (according to
Spolsky's definition it includes all open-source software).

I hope I did not hurt your feeling or anythinh, Chen, I'm just trying to
make my rationale clear.

Regards,

	Shlomi Fish

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Shlomi Fish        [email-masked]
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