CRN: Extremist Linux Advocates Hurt Their Cause

“Industry watcher Rob Enderle no longer responds to angry
e-mails from Linux supporters. The principal analyst for the
Enderle Group says he replied to the first thousand or so. But
after that, the anger and profanities that many of the missives
contained began to wear on him.

“‘I’ve been threatened and other analysts have been threatened,
as well,’ Enderle said. ‘Some of the e-mail is incredibly vile, and
it just doesn’t seem worth it to respond anymore. The senders view
a response as a license to write again, in even greater
detail.’

“Enderle’s experience is part of a new phenomenon that has swept
the upstart Linux operating system from feel-good, groundswell
enthusiasm to an ugly environment of death threats and electronic
terrorism ‘from Woodstock to Altamont,’ if you will. The rising
tide of emotion is partially rooted in the SCO Group Ltd.’s
billion-dollar lawsuit against IBM Corp., but experts say it also
reflects the changing ranks of the open-source faithful…”

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