“…Linus has finally announced that 2.4 (barring any last
minute complications) will be “blessed” before the end of this
year. I’m still excited; I still feel like cheering. But there is
something that bothers me. The first news report I saw on the
2.4 release made several comments that displayed the lack of
education that still exists in the business world when it comes to
our software development model. Sure, Linux is being accepted
all over the place, from big oil companies to point-of-sale
systems. I’m happy to see Gartner, Giga, Forrester and the other
“industry analysts” predict good things for Linux. I’m very glad
that people don’t snicker when I suggest Linux for projects
anymore. With all of that, it is easy to forget that we have a long
road of teaching ahead of us…”
“The title of the very first article I saw stated that 2.4 was
“going gold.” This is a perfect example of incorrect thinking.
Going gold usually refers to the fact that a software company has
burned a “master CD” for a final product: a “gold CD.” Usually, the
gold CD is very different from previous “alpha” and “beta”‘ CD’s.
The gold CD is a final cut with many new fixes . . . and usually
some new bugs.”
“One of the other problems with thinking about Linux as if it
were a commercial program is the idea that it can be “late to
market.” Linux is a kernel that is built and designed by an amazing
group of extremely talented people led by Linus Torvalds. They are
not writing Linux to gain “market share.” They are not writing
Linux to “kill Microsoft.” They are not making money off of the
“final release.” These kernel developers are building, coding and
fixing the kernel so that it will be useful.”