[ Thanks to Robert
McMillan for this link. ]
“High school history class can make revolutions sound like
week-long projects masterminded by a handful of individuals who
overthrow the establishment, change the world, and then live
happily ever after. But it took thirteen years and a wide cast of
characters to get the United States from the Articles of
Confederation to the Constitution. And Robespierre didn’t live to
see the end of the French Revolution.”
“By the same token, assuming that the Linux “powerhouses” of
today will be the dominant global enterprises of tomorrow is a leap
of faith. Everybody’s so busy worried about Red Hat “becoming the
next Microsoft” or VA Linux “becoming the next Dell” that they miss
the very real possibility that they may not even be in the running
when Linux gets its “Microsoft” and “Dell” equivalents.”
“Are companies like Penguin Computing and VA Linux
acceptable and necessary losses to a mainstream Linux future?
Better yet, let me put it another way: does anybody seriously
believe that the Linux expertise contained within those companies
couldn’t be replicated within the global infrastructure of, say,
Dell or IBM?”