On 19/07/2015 20:07, Didier Kryn wrote:
> You say "crapware"; I've also read "bloatware". Everyone complains
> about GNU, including me, but I don't forget everyone is or should be
> immensely gratefull for the wonderful software they provide to the
> world, free and open. Think of gcc, glibc, emacs, latex...

GNU is and has always been a political project more than a technical
one. And it has been very successful with its main goal, which is
great; I cannot thank GNU/Linux enough for giving me access to a free
Unix-like operating system in my learning years, and for providing a
serious alternative to Microsoft in the server world (serious as in:
it works about as well and it is cheaper).

However, GNU should not be taken for what it isn't, and great
ideologies do not good engineering make. GNU is awesome when all the
alternatives you have are proprietary software, but the picture gets
much uglier when you start looking under the hood and evaluating the
software from a sheer technical viewpoint. Most of GNU *is* bloatware,
and a significant part of it makes outright bad technical choices;
some well-known GNU tools are a consistently bad experience for people
who use them everyday and either don't know better, or have no choice
because there really isn't any other free alternative.

Do not be afraid to give credit where credit is due *and* point out
faults where they are; these are not contradictory. And I actually
believe that the best way you can be grateful to GNU is to be brutally
honest with them so you give them a chance to improve.

--
Laurent