Slashdot Mirror
The Riches of Open Source
Daniel Dvorkin writes "This BusinessWeek article argues convincingly that Linus Torvalds has more resources at his disposal than Bill Gates. Not only is it a nice overview of Why Open Source Really Matters pitched to a non-technical audience, but it makes a solid argument in favor of OSS in general and Linux in particular, from a solidly capitalist perspective."
I'm sure that Linus has more friends than Bill Gates anyway.
Bill Gates has to pay people to work for him. Linus does not. Advantage: Linus.
Said the Anonymous Coward.
The open source community is, according to the article, "a vast flock of very creative, un-sheeplike sheep".
;-)
I have little to add to that... it's just a great line. Beware of getting fleeced by SCO.
Vanya's Law: "In any culture without irony, fart jokes will be the highest form of humor."
Our PC GOD Torvalds, which art in Transmeta^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H OSDL
Hallowed be thy skillz
Thy kernel comes, in the US and all the earth
Give us this day our daily updates.
And forgive us our holes, as we apply thine patch.
And lead us not into closed source, but deliver us from Microsoft.
For thine is the kernel, the skillz, and the leetness for ever and ever. Amen.
Things you think are in the Constitution, but are not.
Way back when I was a lad there was a nice candy store in town. The owner, Mr. Glucose, would have one day a year in which he would allow all the town children to get candy for free.
One year on Free Candy Day two teenagers were standing outside the front of the store. "That's Darl McBride and Chris Sontag," my friend whispered to me, "they're a couple of junior high bullies!" We tried to enter the store when the two bullies moved in front of me. "Hey kid," snarled McBride, "this is our candy store. If you want in you have to pay me a dime." I protested "But.. but.. Mr. Glucose owns the candy store!" Sontag laughed. "Hey punk, my mom was making candy at home for years. That means we own the candy in the store if they use sugar in it like my mom."
Upon hearing this exchange, Mr. Glucose came out of the store waving a bat and proceeded to beat the two bullies to pulp.
~ The End ~
From the article: On the surface, Linus vs. Bill seems to be the ultimate David vs. Goliath contest.
I'm pretty sure that, by definition, the ultimate David vs. Goliath contest was in fact: David vs. Goliath.
Otherwise they'd be called "Linus vs. Bill" contests now wouldn't they?
Dewey, you fool! Your decimal system has played right into my hands!
Gates can, at any time, get out of the software business and take his huge fortune (power) and wield it to do something else. He can buy an island, put a huge laser cannon on top of its highest mountain, and populate it with a thousand expensive "escort companions" to satisfy his every whim, every night. Money is raw power that can be converted to many uses.
Linus can't do that. Linus can just dominate the software world, but his power is mostly limited to that subject. I don't think Linus will ever have a giant laser cannon.
"Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
I know you're joking, but I have to give Bill Gates some credit. If I was obscenely wealthy like that, I don't think I would be ABLE to stop myself from buying a laser cannon.
It would be like you or me buying a Snickers.
That's why he's porting Windows to 64 bit machines!
It's not wasting time, I'm educating myself.
Very hard to direct them to go where you want, impossible to keep from going where they want.
Linus exerts more control by running the can opener, rather than the whip, as any cat owner would testify.
Yea, but every member of management counts as -10 employees and they have a 10% management base.
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
While Torvalds is a threat to Gates, Gates seems to be little or no threat to Torvalds. To hear Torvalds talk about it, he's having fun as Linux' guardian. His challenge is merely that of being an effective shepherd to a vast flock of very creative, un-sheeplike sheep.
A flock of sheep? Shouldn't that be a herd of cats?
AEIOU: open-source anonymous internet currency
Stop the Slashdot effect! Don't read the articles!
And lets not forget the thousands of extra IT jobs Bill has created because people have to constantly repair damage caused by his broken software.
If I seem short sighted, it is because I stand on the shoulders of midgets
I see you haven't learned the fundamental trick of libertarianism: Take whatever result the market gives you, and define that result as "optimal".
For example, "tainted ground water" is an optimal result, because it minimized cleanup costs for the computer parts manufacturer, and it creates a new market opportunity for selling bottled water to everyone. See, the system works!
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.