Who has long term prospects based on their relationships and alliances with customers? Those are the guys who are likely to survive. Over the long term, data center hosting is really fixed costs (it costs the same to run a data center whether you have 2 or 200 customers in there) so it all comes down to volume. My sense is that it will probably shake out to 2 major players; most likely Exodus and Verio.
BM did note that the open source community places Linus on a pedastal. Albeit deservedly so, it's our responsibility to continually question those who rise to prominence in the open source community, as to whether they are acting in the best interest of the community or not. In that sense, Metcalf does make a valid point which is somewhat lost in the big ballyhoo on/. over this article.
Keep in mind, I have nothing against anyone making a profit. Indeed, I'm out to do the same. However, there is nothing which suggests that hardware or software development is a zero sum game. Why can't the interests of corporate America and the Linux community be reconciled? Mostly, it's because corporate America realizes that they profit if they play by the rules, and they profit even more if they don't.
Coming full circle to my point about Torvalds: he does have a responsibility to conduct himself in a manner which is consistent with the community's expectations of him, rather than simply maximizing Transmeta's profits. Transmeta could very well regress to being the next Intel, or could leave behind a greater legacy than chipzilla. the choice is theirs, of course, but Linus has no small part in this picture, and as such he should wield his influence in a responsible manner.
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Easy. Follow the revenue.
:)
Who has long term prospects based on their relationships and alliances with customers? Those are the guys who are likely to survive. Over the long term, data center hosting is really fixed costs (it costs the same to run a data center whether you have 2 or 200 customers in there) so it all comes down to volume. My sense is that it will probably shake out to 2 major players; most likely Exodus and Verio.
Full Disclaimer: I work for Exodus
- Junta
BM did note that the open source community places Linus on a pedastal. Albeit deservedly so, it's our responsibility to continually question those who rise to prominence in the open source community, as to whether they are acting in the best interest of the community or not. In that sense, Metcalf does make a valid point which is somewhat lost in the big ballyhoo on /. over this article.
Keep in mind, I have nothing against anyone making a profit. Indeed, I'm out to do the same. However, there is nothing which suggests that hardware or software development is a zero sum game. Why can't the interests of corporate America and the Linux community be reconciled? Mostly, it's because corporate America realizes that they profit if they play by the rules, and they profit even more if they don't.
Coming full circle to my point about Torvalds: he does have a responsibility to conduct himself in a manner which is consistent with the community's expectations of him, rather than simply maximizing Transmeta's profits. Transmeta could very well regress to being the next Intel, or could leave behind a greater legacy than chipzilla. the choice is theirs, of course, but Linus has no small part in this picture, and as such he should wield his influence in a responsible manner.
Flame away folks :)
-Junta