The Industry choice

[Peter Hansen]

Steve Holden wrote:
> Whereas the bleached bones of the failed open source projects are 
> visible for all to see on the SourceForge beach.

It occurs to me that the value of those projects can be judged
in a number of ways.  One of them is in how much those involved
in the projects have learned from the experience.  Perhaps one
rarely starts a second open source project with quite as much
rabid, unthinking enthusiasm as one did the first time around,
and maybe the world is a better place for it.

I know that I've started many one-man projects over the years,
and only slowly (I'm a little thick, you see) came to realize
that while it's incredibly easy to start something, seeing it
through to the end is rather more difficult.

At this point, perhaps largely as a result of a new world-view
inspired by the agile movement, I rarely start anything...
and when I do, it's driven by a strong, recurring need, and I
only do just enough to meet that need, in the simplest way
I can find.  (Often, that ends up not involving a computer.)

-Peter