“Who would have thought that when a Finnish University began to
patch together bits and pieces of code that he was about the
revolutionize the computer industry and light a fire under the
pants of the mainstream computer “Establishment”? But that is what
Linus Torvalds has done. In a short space of time, the Open Source
community has shown in the eyes of both the media and the boardroom
execs that it is equal if not superior to any other method of
software development. So much so, that we have now seen movement by
many companies to begin distributing source code under licenses
similar to the GPL “copyleft”. Let?s take a look at some the more
major announcements:”
“So now we have the major Unix flavours, becoming more
undistinguishable. Well, this will mean that companies will need to
invent proprietary technologies to make their Unix more attractive
(in many cases this will be impossible as the move to open
standards becomes stronger. Also, the Open Source community has
shown it?s rapid ability to clone existing technologies as Open
Source) or they will simply stop commercial development of the OS
and move to support services.”
“The best thing of all is that this unified Unix would
essentially be free, just as Linux is today. It might even be
called Linux (surely, as Linux is the quickest to adopt new
features, it will overtake the others, absorb their core
competencies, and perhaps become the unified Unix, leaving all the
others in the dust).”