Chris Lattner wrote:
These companies really don't care about FOSS in the same way GCC
developers do. I'd be highly confident that this would still be a
serious issue for the majority of the companies I've interacted with
through the years.
Hi Jeff,
Can you please explain the differences you see between how GCC
developers and other people think about FOSS? I'm curious about your
perception here, and what basis it is grounded on.
I'd divide customers into two broad camps. Both camps are extremely
pragmatic, but they're focused on two totally different goals.
The first camp sees FOSS toolkits as a means to help them sell more
widgets, typically processors & embedded development kits. Their belief
is that a FOSS toolkit helps build a developer eco-system around their
widget, which in turn spurs development of consumable devices which
drive processor & embedded kit sales. The key for these guys is free,
as in beer, widely available tools. The fact that the compiler &
assorted utilities are open-source is largely irrelevant.
The second broad camp I run into regularly are software developers
themselves building applications, most often for internal use, but
occasionally they're building software that is then licensed to their
customers. They'd probably describe the compiler & associated utilities
as a set of hammers, screwdrivers and the like -- they're just as happy
using GCC as any other compiler so long as it works. The fact that the
GNU tools are open source is completely irrelevant to these guys. They
want to see standards compliance, abi interoperability, and
interoperability with other tools (such as debuggers, profilers, guis,
etc). They're more than willing to swap out one set of tools for
another if it gives them some advantage. Note that an advantage isn't
necessarily compile-time or runtime performance -- it might be ease of
use, which they believe allows their junior level engineers to be more
effective (this has come up consistently over the last few years).
Note that in neither case do they really care about the open-source
aspects of their toolchain (or for the most part the OS either). They
may (and often do) like the commoditization of software that FOSS tends
to drive, but don't mistake that for caring about the open source ideals
-- it's merely cost-cutting.
While I often encounter individual engineers or managers within these
organizations who care about the FOSS ideals and have helped drive FOSS
into those organizations; it's usually not pervasive in those
organizations, even those who have had good success with FOSS platforms.
I don't know if that answers your question or not.
Jeff
