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Has Open Source Jumped the Shark?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the 100-yard-shark-hurdles dept.

AlexGr writes to tell us that Jeff Gould has a somewhat jaded look at the commercial push of Open Source and what that may be doing to the overall Open Source movement. "I've been a Linux fan for years, but lately I wonder if the drum beating from the big IT vendors in favor of open source hasn't finally slipped over the edge from sincere enthusiasm to meaningless — or in some cases downright hypocritical — sloganeering. The example that brought this gloomy thought to mind was a recent IBM press release touting a 'new open client solution' as an 'alternative to vendor lock-in'. Wow. Imagine that. An alternative to vendor lock-in."

9 of 250 comments (clear)

  1. It is possible to overuse the Cavuto by fatduck · · Score: 2, Funny

    End times?

    --
    Making you think you're crazy is a billion dollar industry.
  2. Takes One to Know One? by richg74 · · Score: 4, Funny
    As others have already pointed out, this announcement really isn't about Open Source at all.

    Nonetheless, for some of us who are old enough to have done business with IBM in the 1970s and 1980s, having them talk about avoiding "vendor lock-in" is a useful test to see if the old irony detector is still working.

  3. Re:Umm? by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 2, Funny

    Take the source and make hippie-love-fest-2.0 thats the point of open-source no?

    Is that gonna be like hippie-love-fest-1.0 except with even more user interaction? If so, count me in!

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    This guy's the limit!
  4. Re:Jumping the Shark by danpsmith · · Score: 3, Funny

    Jumping the shark has jumped the shark.

    Correct, I much prefer the Tom Cruise inspired phrase "jumped the couch."

    --
    Judges and senates have been bought for gold; Esteem and love were never to be sold.
  5. Re:He doesn't understand Open Source at all. by g1zmo · · Score: 2, Funny

    It might have been confusing, were this a Dickies message board. But the sales guy's misunderstanding of the term 'free' as it would be used at an FSF event is clearly his own fault.

    --
    I have found there are just two ways to go.
    It all comes down to livin' fast or dyin' slow.     -REK, Jr.
  6. Open != Open Source by sameeer · · Score: 3, Funny

    Boy, I better think twice before asking people to open the door. Somebody might think I'm asking them to break it into pieces and distribute it to the neighbors.

  7. Yet another redefiinition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Damn! It looks like they've changed the meaning of Insightful now, too...

  8. Re:He doesn't understand Open Source at all. by wall0159 · · Score: 2, Funny


    >That's what the rest of the world thinks when they hear "free".

    Really?!? So _that's_ what they mean by "the land of the free"...

    Now I get it..

  9. Re:He doesn't understand Open Source at all. by aix+tom · · Score: 2, Funny

    On the other hand, if you go to Slashdot and tell people that Oracle was in Delphi originally, you can really confuse people. ;-)