[sldev] RE: [META] adding support for a new input device to the SL viewer

[Argent Stonecutter]

Anthony writes:
> I've been following this list for a few weeks now and I think some
> people have the wrong idea about open source. First, we don't need
> permission or approval of Linden Labs to make patches or add new
> features and we can totally rewrite any portions that we want to.  
> Anyone
> can make changes and distribute their own version of the viewer. This
> hopefully will inspire competition in building "a better mouse trap".
> Linden is only involved if you want your ideas and patches included in
> their build. But if you have ideas that Linden doesn't want to use,  
> then
> go ahead and incorporate them into your own build. This is the whole
> idea of open source. The open market will decide which build they want
> to use.

On the one hand, yes, you're right... a completely Linden-independent  
fork of the viewer could be implemented.

On the other hand... that doesn't mean it would be practical to have,  
long term, dozens of versions of the viewer maintained independently  
and continually having to be resynced.

On the gripping hand, you still need to have the resulting fork  
remain compatible with the Linden servers, so it's going to have to  
track changes in the Linden tree. SL is "open source", but it's not  
an "open system", because the protocol and server behavior are under  
a single company's control.