LXer: FOSS: The Savior of Democracy

“It has always amused and bothered me when people say ‘Forget
the philosophy. Pay no attention to that crazy Stallman dood. Just
choose the best software for the job.’ Now it mostly just bothers
me, because it is a short-sighted and wrongheaded perspective.
Everything flows from some sort of philosophy. You don’t get good
stuff from bad philosophy. Of course you know my favorite poster
boys to use as an example–Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and
Microsoft. Everything they do flows from a simple philosophy: their
way or the highway, everyone who is not a friend is an enemy,
enemies must be destroyed (notice how their friends often suffer
the same fate as their enemies), and there is no such thing as
making too much money. The results of this philosophy we already
know.

“I have always resisted the notion that the FOSS world is at war
with Microsoft. It sounds so dramatic, like a silly fantasy of
lonely geeks still living in their mom’s basements, trying to make
coding into a macho activity…”

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