Methodology Weaknesses

• Boring code

  • Code can go fallow and may need maintenance
  • Becoming less common as community scales up - most code is interesting (or important) to someone

• The documentation is often erratic - "Read the source, Luke" less effective than good technical documentation

  • Free market becoming big enough to fix some of this problem
  • Free market has solved end user documentation problem
  • Existing UNIX vendors each duplicate this scale of work: IPO's and V.C. have injected capital that can/will be applied

• Other problems include:

  • Unpredictability: but people fund work to meet their schedules
  • Patents
  • # of contributors to "big iron" may be limited by its availability