osOpinion: Memo to Microsoft: Stop Attacking Linux

[ Thanks to Kelly
McNeill for this link. ]

“I was at a Linux World Expo in San Jose, California a couple of
years ago and attended Linus Torvalds’ keynote speech.”

“Before Linus took the stage there was an introduction by John
“MadDog” Hall. The audience members were asked to raise their hands
if any of them had contributed anything to Linux that was generally
included in one of the major distributions. Several hundred (maybe
more) hands were raised.”

“Hall then asked if anyone attending had contributed anything
that was generally included with Windows. Just one or maybe two
people raised their hands that I could see.”

“The point is that Linux is an operating system that was created
by its users. The users of the operating system created, improved,
enhanced, optimized, ported and adapted it. Linux is a natural
reflection of the needs of its users. What is being worked on is a
real-time reflection of what users of the system want and/or
need.”

“If you are skilled enough (and don’t mind dozens, hundreds, or
thousands of people double-checking your work and criticizing or
improving on it) you can become one of them. If you prefer, you can
simply install one of the existing Linux distributions and make use
of all these capabilities without contributing code yourself.”

Complete
Story