NewsForge: Linux community: We can play nice with big tech

“The headlines practically screamed: “The suits take over
Linux!” A handful of media reports before and during LinuxWorld
earlier this month played up a community vs. corporate theme, using
the trade show as a microcosm of what’s happening to the Linux
world outside the walls of the Jacob K. Javits Convention
Center.“

“Parts of the Open Source community, especially the
free-as-in-beer and as-in-speech crowd, have always regarded
corporate types with some suspicion, and this year’s LinuxWorld,
with its announcements from the likes of IBM, Intel,
Hewlett-Packard and other tech heavyweights, could have been a
conspiracy theorist’s wet dream. Microsoft even sent a spy to check
on what all the fuss was about.”

“Despite the media reports, response from the Open Source
community to big tech’s interest in Linux has been generally
positive. Alex Perry, whose FlightGear both was in the LinuxWorld
.org Pavilion, says it’s no surprise that the suits dominated the
New York show, because it’s intended to be a business-to-business
conference.”

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