Ian Murdock: Linux is a Process, Not a Product

securitas writes "Debian founder Ian Murdock says that Linux is a process, not a product. He also says that the product mentality 'misses the entire point of Linux and the open-source development model.' Because Linux is made up of many different components developed on independent timeframes, Murdock posits, to refer to Linux as a product is to strip it of its dynamism and closes its inherently open nature. Instead, he says that Linux should be viewed as a shared platform and infrastructure technology, and that business models should reflect that or else Linux risks becoming proprietary, closed and just another cookie-cutter piece of software."

Comments

I'll surely agree with that

[IWantMoreSpamPlease]

Because Linux sure as heck isn't finished yet...

quit being solitary.

[twitter]

Going to a LUG is certainly too much trouble for me

What, subscribing to an email list is too much trouble for you? That's where I get most of my help. We don't have a large enough group for IRC to be practical.

The rest of your trolly reply is an insult. You combine the admitedly over used bullshit grandmother example with an implication that I'd charge my relatives for advice. That's ugly, but not nearly as nasty as someone who'd con their relatives out of the cost of Windows. The fee I charge strangers for free software is less than CompuUSA charges just to look at a box and an order of magnitude less than the cost of comprable Windows software.

Someone set up with free software is much beter off than any poor schuck on Windoze, which is both confusing and breaks. Also, I can give anyone all the free software they want without worry. This software, once installed is usually easy to keep up and alows others to offer remote help securely. The only assumption I've made is that people are better off with free software than they are with Microsoft.