Have The Suits Changed Linux?

rcunnings points out this "interesting story about the assimilation of one prominent Linux hacker into the business of Linux. Sushi anyone?" Linus himself has always seemed a perfect pragmatist, and in this article he implies that corporations are benefiting everyone when they act as -- his term -- "sponsors."

Comments

Linux and the Future

[SimianOverlord]

I know I will be lambasted and moderated down for this, so I hope those of you who still browse at less than +1 will take the time to read and understand my fresh viewpoint. I'm not sure how much longer I will be able to continue being part of a community that I have found extremely closed to unique opinions. I could easily "karma w****" as it is known (I personally prefer the term "karma solicitation") in order to get my views more widely seen, but I feel that that would be adapting myself to fit into a community which frankly is not ready for me, emotionally.

Anyway, this is all far from the point. I'm not about to claim to you that I'm an individual with any real experience in the world of Linucks. I've had my share of jobs involving IT, but these were exclusively to do with the administration and usage of Windows systems.

This article, and the other just like it posted a week ago, made me think about where we are all headed with this "Open Source" phenomenon. After some thought I realised - if Open Source software comes to predominate over all other forms of software, then we are on the highway to hell - and we don't even have a paddle.

Let's, as an example, look at Joe FLOSSpack, sitting down at his computer in the year 2100 - the year of the Linux desktop. He painstakingly "logs on" to his "Linux Box" to look at his e-mail. OH WAIT! NO E-MAIL JOE! Our current open source, ubiquitous e-mail system has been hijacked again overnight by Russian Gangsters. EVEN A LINUCKS MONOCULTURE WAS A BAD IDEA. "Maybe I'll surf the net instead", thinks Joe next. "Oh no - I've just remembered. THERE IS NO INTERNET! When everyone gained the open source tools to do away with advertisements and pop ups MOST POPULAR WEBSITES WENT UNDER. Now all that's left is pickaninny sites that die if they get +200 visitors in one day. Someone had to pay for that infrastructure- if only I could have lived in the GOLDEN AGE of 2004."

True, this scenario as I've outlined it makes no sense. But compare what I say to what ESR regularly says. I think I've made my point.