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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."

3 of 250 comments (clear)

  1. Jumping the Shark by JungleBoy · · Score: 0, Redundant

    I want to know when jumping the shark jumped the shark. Certainly it's already happened.

    --
    "You never know when some crazed rodent with cold feet might be running loose in your pants."
    -Calvin
  2. Has the phrase "Jumped the shark" . . . by gimple · · Score: 1, Redundant

    . . . jumped the shark?

  3. I'm glad by caudron · · Score: 0, Redundant

    I'm glad to hear someone finally say it. Freedom has totally jumped the shark. It's soooo "post-Enlightenment" and lame. /sarcasm

    OK, seriously, though, I am honestly hopeful that "Open Source" has jumped the shark. It's Free Software, dammit, not Open Source, that is what's important here. "Free" as in "Freedom", not "Open" as in "I Can See It". So, yeah, if this whole "Let's call it Open, because business won't like us if we call ourselves what we are, which is Free" thing goes away, I won't be crying myself to sleep.

    Tom Caudron
    http://tom.digitalelite.com/

    --
    -Tom