It's Not the 15th Birthday of Linux

Glyn Moody writes "There's been a spate of celebrations of Linux's 15th birthday recently. What they're really marking is the 15th anniversary of version 1.0. But do version numbers matter for free software? The 'release early, release often' approach means there's generally little difference between version 0.99.14z, say, and version 1.0. In fact, drawing attention to such anniversaries is misguided, because it gives the impression that free software is created in the same way as traditional proprietary code, working towards a predetermined end-point according to a top-down plan. So how should we be choosing and celebrating free software's past achievements?"

Comments

Re:In Korea

[dotancohen]

In Korea, you are 1 year old the minute you are born.

I understand that this is the way abortions are deemed legal or not, no? For atheists, the fetus is viable when it is born. For Christians, the fetus is viable when it is conceived. For Jews, the fetus is viable when it graduates law school.