"Larry McVoy is out to change the way cooperative software
development is done, and he may just pull it off. …
"Larry's stated goal is to have every free software project using
BitKeeper within a few years. He may just get there. … With some
luck, the result should be a reduction in the number of "Linus does
not scale" burnouts that have occasionally halted kernel work in the
past.
"As part of Larry's approach to world domination, he intends that
BitKeeper be freely available for any free software development team
that wants it. … But Larry also wants commercial software
companies to use his system, and he would like for them to pay for
the privilege. …
"BitKeeper includes a logging feature. Once multiple repositories are
in use, BitKeeper will log all changes to a central server; these
logs will be made available via a web page. Thus anybody can go to
the web site and see what's happening with any development project
out there which is using BitKeeper. …
"The reasoning behind this move is the following: Larry believes that
free software projects want their work to be in the open anyway, and
will not be bothered by the logging. Since the logging only kicks in
when multiple repositories are used, individuals using BitKeeper to
manage their diaries will not be affected. Proprietary vendors,
instead, are not likely to be happy with having their change log
messages broadcast to the world. For them, this restriction will
probably make the system unusable.
"At this point Larry shows up with a deal: the commercial version of
BitKeeper doesn't do public central logging - you can direct the
logging to an internal server. Pay the price, and you can use the
system with your privacy intact."