[MaraDNS list] MaraDNS update: Article has survived Wikipedia deletion attempt

[Bradley D. Thornton]

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On 04/20/2013 07:06 PM, Sam Trenholme wrote:
> I did not get a chance to update MaraDNS this month. The reason is because
> I already have devoted a few hours to MaraDNS earlier this month, fighting
> an incorrectly proposed request for deletion.

And don't forget that new forum you created too somewhere ;)

> 
> Since I devoted so much time dealing with Wikipedia’s MaraDNS article, I
> did not get a chance to do any actual MaraDNS development this month. Maybe
> next month, but, then again, I am in the process of transitioning from
> working on MaraDNS once a month to once every other month. I probably will
> not devote time to MaraDNS again until June, unless a critical security bug
> with a CVE number is found.

I'm a little stymied by this. A decade ago, MaraDNS was a capable
enterprise DNS solution - one which I myself deployed as the the primary
DNS service for a few fortune 500 companies.

But then, it kind of fell into, not bit rot, but certainly neglect. You
even offered a few announcements a few years back that this was the case
and more recently, even in your blog article about the wiki fiasco, that
you are "winding down" the project.

With that sort of varied history, and your intentions to 'wind down' the
project, there seems to be an inference that people should look to other
software solutions as a more viable alternative to continued
consideration or use of MaraDNS.

If the project does wind down, I seriously doubt that MaraDNS will
survive in the wiki until your grandchildren are old enough to read.
Certainly, there is much written about the product available at
archive.org's wayback machine, but I sense that as proud as you are of
your accomplishment you aren't really interested in seeing its legacy,
or indeed usefulness, continue.

This is a separate notion from the one that finds you offering limited
time to work on the project, or release new, almost needed features in
todays networking environment. Indeed, MaraDNS will remain for a very
long time as a simple and effective home DNS server, but its viability
in the enterprise has already waned to the point where many might say
it's not suitable for consideration of deployment - this is just what I
glean from reading your monologs; I have a different view, obviously,
since I still deploy and utilize it in large scale networks.

Personally, I think that although notability in semi recent press of the
previous decade qualifies MaraDNS for inclusion in the wiki (for the
time being), but you paint the picture of a dying product Sam. One that
has little relevance or utility; and I'm not the only one who gleans
this from your posts.

Once the relevance and utility of the product falls below some nebulous
level of significance, it will no doubt become a 'was', and eventually
even deleted altogether from the wiki - like other once prominent open
and closed source software products.

One only needs to follow the rapid evolvement of the myriad of ERP/CRM
systems playing musical chairs now in the wiki, and being deleted after
forks or the projects cease active development.

I get the impression, more often than not, that you tend to blog or make
announcements based on your mood at the time, without ever going back
and reading what you actually wrote.

I could be wrong on that last point. You really might be trying to urge
people to stop using MaraDNS.

That's certainly how you've been coming across now for about the last
year and half, or at least since losing the sponsorship to work on
MaraDNS full time as you had hoped for not long ago.

As is usually the case, should you choose to respond, it won't happen
until... this time I gather, what, June?

Kindest regards,


- -- 
Bradley D. Thornton
Manager Network Services
NorthTech Computer
TEL: +1.310.388.9469  (US)
TEL: +44.203.318.2755 (UK)
TEL: +41.43.508.05.10 (CH)
http://NorthTech.US

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