[ Thanks to Serge
Boiko for this link. ]
We didn’t link to a followup article by Andrew Leonard himself
after his mope of a post-mortem on Eazel’s fall because it seemed
over-generous for what might have been a well-executed troll. We
aren’t even thrilled with the fact this article by Tim O’Reilly
arrives in the form of a response to that. What piques our
interest, however, is that next-to-last paragraph.
Prior to this, he mentions “ease of use” in the context of
well-designed web pages, several of which are built on open source
software. Then we’re given this:
“I find myself completely baffled by the failure of the
hardcore open source community (or really the free software
community, which focuses so single-mindedly on the GNU part of the
Linux heritage) to acknowledge and own its real business successes,
while endlessly obsessing about the markets (the Windows desktop
and office applications) where open source not only has a steep
uphill climb but also a less compelling business
model.”
So is this a question of exemplary vision as the world hurtles past
the traditional desktop and its attendant productivity
applications, or resigned withdrawal from enthusiasm over the
prospect of making a significant dent in the desktop market with
anything the Free Software or open source developer communities
have brought to bear so far?