[Python-Dev] Re: ajuba acquired by interwoven

[Eric S. Raymond]

Andrew Kuchling <akuchlin@mems-exchange.org>:
> Some details begin to emerge at 
> http://www.ajubasolutions.com/company/whatsnew.html
> 
> It looks like some of their proprietary code will be released as open
> source, possibly including the TclPro development environment.  The
> new company will not be funding Tcl/Tk development, and instead it's
> up to the 14 members of the recently-formed Tcl core team.  I don't
> know if any of those people are being paid to work on Tcl, but
> probably at least some of them are.  I expect this will cause a good
> deal disruption, perhaps even a fatal amount, particularly if core
> developers such as Jeffrey Hobbs no longer work on Tcl full-time.

Not necessarily...

Good for Tcl: they *have* a core team now

Bad for Tcl: at 14 it's too big, unless there's some inner core of no
	more than three or four architects.

Good for Tcl: Much of the proprietary code will go open.

Bad for Tcl: Not clear whether the two Ajuba employees "replaced" are
		on the new core team. Not clear whether their time 
		available will increase or decrease.

Good for Tcl: Osterhout's rather lame attempts to develop under a mixed 
		model have almost certainly come to an end in favor of
		an Apache-like model funded by big Tcl users.

With good leadership, they could manage the transition to something
resembling the Apache Software Foundation's organization.  If so, Tcl
might actually improve.
-- 
		<a href="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/">Eric S. Raymond</a>

Rifles, muskets, long-bows and hand-grenades are inherently democratic
weapons.  A complex weapon makes the strong stronger, while a simple
weapon -- so long as there is no answer to it -- gives claws to the
weak.
        -- George Orwell, "You and the Atom Bomb", 1945