Hello everybody, (I guess I should not, but I also couldn't resist,) to post the lines from an interview of Dennis M. Ritchie:
| On the other hand, the "open evolution" idea has its own drawbacks, | whether in official standards bodies or more informally, say over the | Web or mailing lists. When I read commentary about suggestions for where | C should go, I often think back and give thanks that it wasn't developed | under the advice of a worldwide crowd. C is peculiar in a lot of ways, | but it, like many other successful things, has a certain unity of | approach that stems from development in a small group. To tell the | truth, I don't know how Linus and his merry band manage so well -- I | couldn't have stood it with C.
http://www.linuxworld.com/linuxworld/lw-2000-12/lw-12-ritchie.html
In the article they talk about the C99 standard and Mr. Ritchie wished the commitee would have resited even more to a lot of suggestions.
Somehow the FSF's posistion has similarities: We will have to resist a lot... and pick the best.
Bernhard