This is the beauty of open source. Apache 1.3 is still widely used, and many products are still based on it. If the Apache Foundation no longer wants to maintain it, others are free to pick it up and carry on. I wouldn't be surprised if this happened sooner rather than later.
So after a project dies it forks off into a slew a Legacy systems all needed independent modifications and changes. That is the Ugly side of Open Source to me. A more beauty side is if the tools that did need to work on 1.3 once apache stopped 1.3 support went and modified their apps to work on newer web browsers.
Forking code to keep your project going is not the way, it is just a bad idea.
If it forces people to upgrade to a better alternative, then maybe it is. Think IE6 - would it be better to maintain that ongoing (considering that many of the things the Slashdot groupthink wants to fix with IE6 are the explicit reasons why some companies are keeping it around) or kill it dead and have people upgrade?
So after a project dies it forks off into a slew a Legacy systems all needed independent modifications and changes. That is the Ugly side of Open Source to me.
Unless all the owners of the legacy systems got together and formed some sort of.. foundation to maintain the old version. They could all share the code and benefit from the modifications. They could call it something like the Apache Software Foundation (oops, I guess that one's already taken).
Kidding aside, the "problem" you describe has nothing t
I would guess that 1.3.42 is probably pretty stable, given that no new features have been added for years, and is only a minor update to version 1.3.41 which is over 2 years old as it is. So I would guess anyone still using 1.3 can continue with 1.3.42 for the forseeable future without worries. And if something really bad did come up, apparently they left the option of issuing a security update open.
"Laugh while you can, monkey-boy."
-- Dr. Emilio Lizardo
Open Source (Score:4, Interesting)
This is the beauty of open source. Apache 1.3 is still widely used, and many products are still based on it. If the Apache Foundation no longer wants to maintain it, others are free to pick it up and carry on. I wouldn't be surprised if this happened sooner rather than later.
Re:Open Source (Score:3, Interesting)
So after a project dies it forks off into a slew a Legacy systems all needed independent modifications and changes. That is the Ugly side of Open Source to me. A more beauty side is if the tools that did need to work on 1.3 once apache stopped 1.3 support went and modified their apps to work on newer web browsers.
Forking code to keep your project going is not the way, it is just a bad idea.
Re: (Score:2)
Why ugly? It's better than the project dying, period.
And one of those forks may become the new official version.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeah, because a project dying and all the people that still use it being left out in the cold is really an attractive alternative.
Not.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
So after a project dies it forks off into a slew a Legacy systems all needed independent modifications and changes. That is the Ugly side of Open Source to me.
Unless all the owners of the legacy systems got together and formed some sort of.. foundation to maintain the old version. They could all share the code and benefit from the modifications. They could call it something like the Apache Software Foundation (oops, I guess that one's already taken).
Kidding aside, the "problem" you describe has nothing t
Re: (Score:2)
I would guess that 1.3.42 is probably pretty stable, given that no new features have been added for years, and is only a minor update to version 1.3.41 which is over 2 years old as it is. So I would guess anyone still using 1.3 can continue with 1.3.42 for the forseeable future without worries. And if something really bad did come up, apparently they left the option of issuing a security update open.