Why do you use Linux? Because you’re running from something or
embracing something? In this week’s StartX Files, Brian Proffitt
says people run Linux more because they’re for freedom and the
chance to contribute. For the rest of the world, software may “just
be a tool.” For the Linux community, Linux is “a chance to create
something new, something unique, and something bigger than
ourselves.”
“I don’t think people who are Linux users are escaping
away from something–they are running to something. Because Linux
is something that represents more than just lines of code for
people. Linux represents something that they can help build. From
the developers who code the kernel to the beginning user who
tentatively types out a bug report, everyone who has used Linux for
any amount of time has the ability to help create something that is
larger than anything they could have done on their own.Sometimes, I get frustrated with the nay-sayers who start a
sentence with “Linux will never do…” I bang my head against the
wall when I see the trolls lurching through the talkbacks. I was
certainly frustrated this week.But then I was reminded in a small, personal way that something
I once wrote played a helping hand in furthering Linux.And that’s what we are all seeking! A chance to create something
new, something unique, and something bigger than ourselves. We are
invested in the Linux cause because in one way or another, we are
personally invested in Linux itself.”