The author is correct to a certain extent in believing that the romantic ideal of volunteer development of very large open-source applications will become increasingly strained in the future.
But the development of Linux is not simply going to collapse. Because it has become crucial to the businesses of so many companies, it is in their interests to spend a lot of money maintaining and improving it. It's simply a matter of re-adjusting the idea of 'an infinite number of hackers' to 'an infinite number of software / hardware companies etc'.
Well well.... Mr U-Turn himself, Jesse Berst, and that great journalistic institution ZDNet have decided to jump on the Linux bandwagon now that it's travelling at 300mph. I'm sure that once they've paid due homage to the current 'fad' they'll go back to their usual profound insights into the wonderful world of Windows...
Some interesting points, but the idea that Linux can replace Windows, with Red Hat becoming the new monopoly, is pretty far-fetched, even as a hypothesis. Microsoft will be the last major monopoly of its kind. If they fall, things will be much more diversified - with Linux, BSD, Mac, Be, etc.
But the very nature of Linux and its community means that if RH tried to pull any tricks, the backlash would be extremely vicious. Even as it is, with RH's current benign form of capitalism, there are people who think they are the already the next Evil Empire.
And WIMP is, unfortunately, necessary. The wonderful thing is, in Linux, it's an option rather than something forced down your throat.
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The author is correct to a certain extent in believing that the romantic ideal of volunteer development of very large open-source applications will become increasingly strained in the future.
But the development of Linux is not simply going to collapse. Because it has become crucial to the businesses of so many companies, it is in their interests to spend a lot of money maintaining and improving it. It's simply a matter of re-adjusting the idea of 'an infinite number of hackers' to 'an infinite number of software / hardware companies etc'.
Well well.... Mr U-Turn himself, Jesse Berst, and that great journalistic institution ZDNet have decided to jump on the Linux bandwagon now that it's travelling at 300mph. I'm sure that once they've paid due homage to the current 'fad' they'll go back to their usual profound insights into the wonderful world of Windows...
Some interesting points, but the idea that Linux can replace Windows, with Red Hat becoming the new monopoly, is pretty far-fetched, even as a hypothesis. Microsoft will be the last major monopoly of its kind. If they fall, things will be much more diversified - with Linux, BSD, Mac, Be, etc.
But the very nature of Linux and its community means that if RH tried to pull any tricks, the backlash would be extremely vicious. Even as it is, with RH's current benign form of capitalism, there are people who think they are the already the next Evil Empire.
And WIMP is, unfortunately, necessary. The wonderful thing is, in Linux, it's an option rather than something forced down your throat.
blackers