LinuxPlanet: .comment: Microsoft Doesn’t Care What We Think

“The community makes it as difficult as it can for businesses to
develop for Linux. Indeed, if someone were to make the claim that
the Linux community is fundamentally anti-business, I would have a
hard time finding very convincing evidence to the contrary. I
mentioned to a colleague last week that I figured it would be a
week before someone came up with a hack to confound the advertising
banner in the free version of the excellent and commercial Opera
browser. I was wrong. The hack appeared on a mailing list in just
three days.”

“As you read the newsgroups and mailing lists, as well as such
things as the talkbacks on Linux Today, make mental note of the
postings that you would use if trying to talk a business into
adopting Linux over a Microsoft product. And make note of the ones
you’d avoid using. See what I mean?”

“And the saddest thing is that it’s to no end at all. The
presence of a commercial aspect to Linux in no way hinders or
reduces the development of free and open-source software. Indeed,
the inverse is true: The more corporate IT departments involved in
Linux, the broader the pool of talent from whom ideas can be drawn,
the greater number of people who will be contributing code. Look at
the number of developers already who have corporate email
addresses.”

“But no. There’s a substantial and very loud portion of the
community that has adopted a wrongheaded, holier-than-thou attitude
that has the express purpose of driving away business. Which is
fine if what you’re seeking is a narrow, goofy, technically
profound but fundamentally a toy, kind of operating system.”

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