I don't usually get involved in these debates, but I'm really getting
tired of this.

Let's take a look at how the Linux community operates, by way of
example:

* Digital audio.  Uh, where to begin?  For *years*, the only solution
  available was OSS.  It was buggy as Hell and relatively featureless.
  (Until recently, the `free' code didn't even support full duplex
  mode!)  Nobody touched it, because they didn't feel they were
  blessed to do so.

  It's true that, very recently, they've finally gotten a clue.  Even
  so, this has been the very essence of cathedral operation.

  Worse, they defined a completely different and incompatible API from
  anyone else, even though there were already multiple APIs that would
  have quite adequately handled all the devices they support.  All I
  can say to this is: NIH!  NIH!

* Raw SCSI and CDDA.  It's massively broken; it doesn't even reliably
  report errors.  CDDA extraction programs have to do *putrid* hacks
  to work around this.  I've watched *2 different people* fix it (one
  of them multiple times), and none of the work has ever been
  integrated.

* Ethernet drivers.  Similar stories.  AFAICT, if it wasn't `written'
  by Donald Becker, it doesn't go in.

These are just things I've personally witnessed.  I fail to believe
there aren't others that I don't know about.

So, please, don't tout the wonderful Linux bazaar model here.  Some of
us know better.