Thanks Then No Thanks.... No Place For Me In The Future Of Telephony
I have been so busy coding for the last few years I haden't even noticed. Before I started FreeSWITCH, I was an avid Asterisk developer putting all my spare time into the betterment of the project. When the book was released Asterisk: The Future of Telephony by O'Reilly Media I thought it was awesome that they mentioned one time Asterisk bug marshall and now FreeSWITCH QA Manager Brian West as well as myself in the book:
• Brian K. West, for your commitment to the community, Asterisk, our book, and
open-source telephony
Anthony Minessale (a.k.a. anthm) is one of the unsung heroes of Asterisk develop-
ment. The number of people who have contributed to Asterisk development are many; the number who can claim to have matched Anthony’s efforts are few.
WOW! guess what? They cut both mentions out of the book. Yet they certianly didn't cut all the contributions we gave them from the code base or the book. I would not have beleived it but they actually seem to have purposely removed our names from the book. I guess my efforts were not quite as memorable as they first thought. Yet I believe most of the things on my list of contribtions at http://www.cluecon.com/anthm.html still remain.
I have to say, This is the biggest dissapointment to date from Asterisk since the time Mark Spencer told me I was going to receive a gift from the Digium for all my hard work on the Asterisk project back in 2005 and then never actually gave it to me...........Sigh......
But, then maybe I'm just not overly concerned with things of this nature. I know Brian, and I've spoken to you both. FreeSWITCH seems like a good project, and you guys seem to be doing a very good job with it. It seems to me that focus should be more pointed at that, and not at how you were slighted in some rather trivial (in my opinion) way. I also made contributions to the book, didn't get mentioned, and told Jared, Leif, and Jim that it bothered me not at all. It just wasn't a big deal to me.
I think you guys all know that I am very fond of Asterisk, warts and all. That being said, if our network weren't already built out with a large base of Asterisk installations, I would definitely evaluate FS for more purposes, it's largely just a matter of "the devil you know". My point is, the project seems to be doing quite well, this seems to be a rather unnecessary thing to be concerned over. People forget things and sort of sideline promises in the face of large issues. It's not necessarily intentional (yes, I realize that removing the quote had to have been done, that does not make the omission intentional) that promises get forgotten, it's just that sometimes there are bigger hurdles that distract attention and memory away from it.
It's clear that the direction of asterisk is wavering away from it's roots. They keep changing the syntax for no good reason and breaking stable systems. I cringe every time I have to upgrade asterisk/zaptel/etc. I haven't tried freeswitch yet but I can't wait until freeswitch can be the guts behind freepbx instead of the ever changing asterisk/zaptel/etc.
Don't worry about them swiping your credit; now plenty of people know about it.
Build it better and all of us will switch! When it reaches critical mass write a book and it'll sell like crazy. Be sure to give THEM credit where it's due in your book :)
JD
Anthony and Brian,
Even though you aren't mentioned in the confines of a dead tree or I mean a print book, it doesn't take long to quickly discover that you were a big part of the * project. Thanks again for working so hard on making FreeSWITCH one of the best platforms in the market.
Regards,
Chris
My copy of the book is the September 2005 first edition. I see the acknowledgments for Brian K. West and for Anthony Minessale in the Preface xvii
Don't sweat it; mostly nobody cares anyway. When they see this kind of wrongdoing, those few who do care, however, do care mightily and with extremely long memory. Keep pointing out the facts: how Asterisk is shaky, as many have suspected, and, now, how that gang has plumbed new lows in moral corruption. G R E A T work on freeswitch, by the way. It's life changing, and that leads to world changing.
You can still see the acknowledgment here:
http://books.google.com/books?id=9_wRFy5OGw4C&pg=PR17&lpg=PR17&dq=Anthony+Minessale+(a.k.a.+anthm)+is+one+of+the+unsung+heroes+of+Asterisk+develop-+ment.+The+number+of+people+who+have+contributed+to+Asterisk+developm&source=web&ots=7hOgqLsH2k&sig=boiFZNBRgJwnxNLogwL0RuNBGGQ&hl=es&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result
It's a old copy of the book... It's also sad that they did this.
I've got the book mentioned. Used it before I started with FreeSWITCH. I've been thinking of dumping this book or giving it away.
My copy of the book is the September 2005 first edition. I see the acknowledgments for Brian K. West and for Anthony Minessale in the Preface xvii.
Hmm... might keep the book now just to show people that page.
(Pet the sweaty things instead.)
Seriously, why waste another moment worrying about how others done you wrong? Do the best you can and let the chips fall where they may. I think we know how this rivalry ends, anyway.