[libre-riscv-dev] Fw: Libre Hardware Philosophy [was: Vulkanizing]

[Scheming Pony]

[That Vulkanizing thread needed to be terminated.]

> ... and to apply the Hippocratic Oath to it...

Interesting idea, some engineering schools require an ethics course. I don't think even medical doctors in the U.S. are required to take it, but they should IMHO.

> unfortunately, at this extremely early stage, we haven't got time - or
> money - to go "let's do this perfectly, from day one, by thinking
> through absolutely everything, then spend the next 20 years developing
> it".
> this project is VERY specifically, "how can we get SOMETHING working
> in the fastest amount of time possible with the minimum effort on our
> part possible that has the maximum based covered as possible with
> acceptable performance that is also flexible enough to reach other
> markets in the future".
> on TOP of that, ONCE it is achieved, we go "okay, now what can we do
> better in an INCREMENTAL fashion".

I asked Richard Stallman once "Why did you compromise and use Unix/C instead of just going for a Lisp Machine?" His answer was the same decision (almost 40 years ago) "Win the battle through expediency, then do it right to win the war." I have this feeling the libre hardware movement will go down the same path, although I'm hopeful. Nowadays, we have many, many more qualified people in hardware and software if we could just focus together. I made the decision after quitting Common Lisp development (there it's Lisp vs. Scheme all the time) to get back to basic principles, and "stay on model" as they call it in animation. People are people though, as I demonstrate myself.

> Vulkan reaches dozens of different markets due to the compatibility
> layers: OpenGL does not.

I hear you, and your argument has merit, but I'm still interpreting this as "but look, 'Open Office' is joining that pack of lemmings, let's join 'em."

Regards, everyone. It is quite nice to have this discussion so civilly. That's another thing people (especially myself) need to get back to--even HAL-9000 was very polite. I liked him before he went haywire, and felt sad when he did.