(an allegory) And the Bazaar was hustling and bustling with comings and goings, a hustle and bustle, and a great many things all happening at once. A woman came through the great morass with a push cart. She found an open space on the walk and started to unload her wares. She struggled to set up her table, and then covered it with a multitude of pretty, and interesting things. She then put a large, brightly, colored umbrella through a hole in the center of the table, which put her table in the shade. A man at the table next to him began shouting at her and ran over. "You cannot put an umbrella in your table." "Why not? it is a sunny day, and I will surely get sunburn." "We at the bazaar do not take lightly of such structures. These things lead to Cathedral-like ways of doing things." He flashed an angry side glance at the Cathedral across the corner. The man returned his gaze to the table and suddenly became angrier than before. "A ROUND TABLE! What are you doing bringing a round table to the bazaar!?!?" The woman explained. "It is easier for me to roll a round table where I want it, than it is to carry a square table on my back." "That is not the way of the bazaar! You must have a square table if you are to trade your wares here!" "Where does it say I must do such a thing?" The man reached in his pocket and angrily waved the paper in front of her. "Right here!" He pointed to the top item. "Square tables are approved for bazaar operators." "But that doesn't mean round tables aren't approved or cannot be approved." "Don't be absurd. There are 11 approved items on the bazaar's list. Round tables are not one of them. see for yourself." He threw the list at her. The woman was busy reading it when a loud racket nearby distracted them both. The man took the list from the woman and ran over to see what the ruckus was. Another woman was setting up a tent at her site, and a pole had fallen to the ground in a kabang. The man began screaming. "What are you doing!? Tent's are not allowed in the bazaar!" "But on days it is windy, a tent is much more comfortable. And my merchandise is so small and light, that even a small breeze would blow it all away." "But tents have not been approved!" he pointed angrily at the paper in his hand. "Don't you understand? Tents have not been approved for the bazaar." "Who died and made you high priest? open-air is not the only way of trading at the bazaar. I need a tent." The umbrella woman came over and interjected. "And I want an umbrella and a round table." "Well, you cannot have them nor should you want them. They have not been approved, and for good reason. We can't just have a bazaar of vendors, selling and trading their wares any way they feel like it. There are specific established ways of doing things here." The two women looked at each other. "Come on, sis. We're obviously not welcome here." She motioned her to follow. "Maybe we can do it our way at the Cathedral." And they _ALL_ lived miserably ever after. The End. Author's Prologue: > We realized it was time to dump the > confrontational attitude that has been > associated with "free software" in the > past and sell the idea strictly on the > same pragmatic, business-case grounds > that motivated Netscape. quoted from: http://www.opensource.org/docs/history.html Finis Greg London with apologies in advance to Eric Raymond. -- license-discuss archive is at http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3