NewsForge: Fragmentation Hurts Open Source Advocacy Efforts

“Last week one of my colleagues said, ‘The technology of Linux
seems to be doing a better job of converging, while the ‘support
orgs’ around it are acting more and more like the Unix
fragmentation of old.’ I agree. Too many Linux, open source, and
free software advocacy groups seem to act as if they are alone in
the universe, or waste time arguing with competing advocates,
instead of cooperating with others to achieve their goals.

“One mini-feud I find especially irksome is between EgovOS and
OSSI. These groups both work to increase open source use by
government agencies, but they never seem to work together. Look at
the online blurb for EgovOS’s upcoming Open Source in Government
conference. There’s no evidence that OSSI exists, let alone plans
to participate. Conversely, EgovOS doesn’t exist anywhere on the
OSSI Web site (except for a small link on this page pointed out to
us by OSSI director John Weathersby shortly after this article was
posted)…”

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