* John Doe :

After reading the other post and guessing at what that book is about, it
is an interesting theory IMO, which seems to correspond with my fleeting
thot Bill Gates led the drive to produce a very complex operating system
(windows).

The key point is that you seldom get better efficiency and better output by
throwing more programmers at a problem. There comes a point where you get
diminishing returns.

But then I wonder how Linux is successfully being developed by independent
programmers all over the world.

Leaving aside the free (as in freedom) issue for a moment; the GNU/Linux
model is almost akin to the FS arena right now: different groups of people
working on different problems and providing a pool of solutions that the end
user can draw upon. Microsoft provide a kernel (MSFS itself) and other
developers around the world provide lots of extra facilities and features
that we can add to taste. It's not perfect but it does seem to make for a
thriving community and does seem to provide work and income for many people.

--
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