On Thu, Dec 16, 2004 at 02:37:09PM -0500, Ian Murdock wrote: > On Tue, 2004-12-14 at 18:15 +0100, Tollef Fog Heen wrote: > > This sounds a bit like the government whose country had three > > different types of power plugs. None compatible, of course. Somebody > > then got the great idea that if they invented another one to supersede > > the three plugs in use (since that caused overhead). That country now > > has four plugs in use.
> Actually, it's more like the country that has a few dozen different > types of power plugs, and they're all so minutely different from each > other that the consumer has no idea why it's like that, only that if he > buys something that requires electricity, he can only use what he > buys in 50% of the places that have electrical power. Also, the > differences are small enough that he *might* be able to plug in > what he has bought in some of the other places, but he's never > sure if or when the thing he plugs in will blow up. Three of the > six makers of the most common plug types then get together, realize > the stupidity of the current situation, and decide to correct it. > At the very worst, there are two fewer plug types. At the very best, > the dozens of others gradually disappear too. The end result is that > consumers can now buy electrical equipment that work in more places. s/power plugs/Windows service packs/ Wait... what was the ISVs' argument against having to test their software on multiple slightly-incompatible distros again? ;-) -- Steve Langasek postmodern programmer
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