21 Dec
2005
21 Dec
'05
3:59 p.m.
Please, don't get me wrong.
:)
But I actually fear the
day in which
gnu/Linux will have a wider success. Because I fear
that this will
happen only if gnu/Linux will abandon (or at least
hide) its real
strenghts and its real philosophy. Or worse it could
finally become just
another commercial o.s.
Ultimately your concern is are the GPL, its variants
and cousins up to the challange. It is the license
that defines and governs our movement. Is that a fair
assessment? If lynksys comes along and doesn't
disclose the use of GPL code someone will figure it
out and we will get something like openwrt as a
result.
For me gnu/Linux is the best operating system
because it is free (as in Is
free speech). The fact that open source software
most of the times is
better, in terms of power and versatility, than its
commercial
counterpart is a direct consequence of the whole
open source philosophy
and the people, the community behind it.
But consider the example of a software engineer that
invests years and spends his savings in an effort to
help build Linux Audio. Literally. At a certain point
he stops working fulltime on Linux Audio and the
development of our "free" audio movement slows down.
I think that we don't have to demonstrate
anything
to anybody. We should
just thank god that there are still some people who
value freedom and
the right of knowledge.
Amen. And God helps those who help themselves so I'm
guessing we should keep swinging our hammers.
If we're into OSS just
because we think it's
better, we've missed the point about why it is
better.
I think it boils down to the licenses and not to
people. If the licenses are up to the task then
success will bring more money, progress and better
tools so everyone of us will have a richer experience.
We have an awesome movement with lots of excellent
people. It's alot of fun. There might be some rough
spots and despite all of them I've noticed that Linux
keeps plodding along and getting bigger and richer. :)
ron
Just my two cents.
c.
www.cesaremarilungo.com
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