“Linux is like the Internet itself- it’s unowned, and unownable.
Anyone can propose software changes, as long as those changes are
returned to a loose-knit network of developers known as the Open
Source community. It?s a highly selective, disciplined process that
serves two purposes: It throws technical innovation into perpetual
fast-forward; and it guarantees the world that Linux will always
remain beyond the control of any single vendor.”
“In my mind, then, Linux is a phenomenon that holds the
potential to change the game along two important dimensions.”
“1. It fulfills a big promise: all hardware, software and
applications working together. Linux is a wonderful thing because
it is the first operating system to run on any hardware platform.
That means it can do for business applications what the Internet
did for networking and communications – deliver on the promise of
truly open, interoperable, any-to-any computing.”
“In a world where a billion people using a trillion devices are
all interconnected, can you imagine that software and hardware that
hasn’t even been invented yet will have to coexist? Of course!
Linux will make that possible, and that’s one reason it’s going to
grow a lot faster than any other operating system over the next
several years. It’s interesting to me that some people are
surprised that IBM is embracing Linux, while other large technology
companies are trying to act as though Linux weren’t happening. This
shouldn’t be a surprise. Linux is bringing the game back into our
zone, precisely because we saw the world moving to open standards
and fundamentally reconfigured our products, our strategy and our
culture toward open systems, common standards and collaborative
business practices.”