I am wondering what genius came up with the idea
to make
the OLS
a follow on for the Kernel Summit.
First, it allows some first rate hackers to
demonstrate exactly how low they value the OLS by attending
the summit and leaving the town when OLS opens.
Second, those who remain will be tired. Even though
OLS is mostly about drinking, they will. Or more so.
In a way Tytso sends some very negative vibes with the KS
for little benefit.
I say negative, because KS invitations are open for corruption.
A good friend of mine and a port maintainer offered me
once over a dinner to ask Tytso for an invitation.
He obviously had good intentions and valued my kernel
contribution too high, but still. I think KS erodes
the meritocracy underpinnings of the kernel hackerdom.
As for the purported benefit, last KS pretended to discuss and
approve some things, which obviously were doomed, were
empty promises, and so on (e.g. Andre's IDE, ESR's CML2,
Keith's kbuild). I cannot recall a single thing
bandied around on the KS that came out good.
Well, we can hope for the tight 2.6 schedule still,
but that's about all, and has a very slim chance.
Having read what I wrote, I am sure someone will accuse
me of having sore grapes over not being invited.
I am not saying yeah or nay, but what if I would.
It would only add a weight to the argument that KS
creates an easy channel for destructive negativity,
just like Dimwit rating on Advogato. If people used
Dimwit right, it would work great. But of course they
never did.
Another scary specter that KS recalls in my mind
is a BSD core group. It was said that BSD splits
when someone gets thrown out from the core group.
Do we really want all that govermentalist shit?
Personally, I was very happy with merry anarchy and a
pinhead God.
All in all I was not going attend OLS this year,
but when Bob Woodruff set up the Infiniband BOF
I really had to. At least Red Hat promises to cover
expenses this year.