[asterisk-dev] trunk working under windows!

[Steven Critchfield]

I also am a linux zealot most of the time. But I think we so far don't
have anything really to complain about here.

On Tue, 2007-11-20 at 19:43 +0100, C. Bergström wrote:
> 1) The initial effort of the port was done by xyz.. Later xyz quits,
> gets a job or has a baby.. Then there's this half maintained port with
> (abandoned users) pretty consistently bugging devs who can't/don't want
> to maintain the port.  Not to mention the first time a security
> vulnerability comes out and there's no patch for xyz platform..

This complaint mainly stems from a reputation and annoyance worry. I
can't speak to the reputation portion as those same users could possibly
be cajoled into joining the rest on the primary platform if they have
drank enough of the koolaid. 

> 2) Effort spent on cross platform compatibility could be better spent
> elsewhere..  iow.. What gain does this really bring the community

Well, this same type of argument can be used on a lot of OSS. Seeing as
the person doing the work is choosing to do it themselves and isn't
really bothering the rest of us too much, let the person continue to
scratch whatever intelectual or other type of itch it is they have.
Until it really bogs down the greater community, it isn't really any of
our concern what someone wants to do privately and contribute back to
us. 

> 3) The unspoken and sometimes wrongly mistaken threshold that exists to
> keep good software out of the hands of point-n-click 'admins'

I think you need to work on a better wording of that argument. I'm
having a hard time figureing out what you are trying to imply. Yes most
Windows 'admins' don't deserve that title. But then again, there a ton
of users out there managing firewalls as well. Should we have not had a
rush of firewall appliances rush to market because the regular user of
such a device isn't qualified to be a 'admin'? No, we slowly raise the
bar for what is expected of certain users. If we ever expect a regular
user at home to install and run asterisk, well, we need to start getting
it onto hardware/OS they will have in the house. To that end you have
two prongs into the markets that are there now. You have those working
on getting it running in windows, and then you have those working on
getting it working on embedded hardware like routers. 

> I'm not saying this is or could be the case.. I'm only bringing up a few
> points that come to mind.

And unless any of this is shown to impede your usage of asterisk, I'd
say, it is best left alone and free for those who wish to use asterisk
how they wish to be free to do so as well.
-- 
Steven Critchfield <critch at basesys.com>