[ Thanks to Kelly
McNeill for this link. ]
“In recent months, as Linux has suddenly appeared in the
commercial computing world’s rear-view mirror (warning: Objects in
the mirror are closer than they appear), many journalists have been
forwarding the idea that Linux will inevitably fragment as Unix in
general has done in years past, to the detriment of anyone foolish
to leave the Microsoft fold and adopt it. This position
demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of Linux as a
system and of the open software “movement” as a force in
technological development. The critical point that these
dooms-sayers need to recognise is this: it’s free. Not only in
terms of dollars and cents, but much more importantly in terms of
ownership….”
“And then along comes Linux. Out of nowhere, a result of many
people just “hacking around”, surprising even themselves by, in
their spare time, putting together a system which, despite the
commercial industries attempts to discredit it, compares favourably
to the operating system technologies hoarded by the worlds’ richest
entities. What they developed is not, strictly speaking, UNIX.
Linux was built from the ground up, without using any of the
original AT&T UNIX code, but learning from its
conventions….”
“Instead of competing by keeping their competitors in the dark,
Linux distributors are vying to sponsor as much userful software
development and innovation as possible, knowing full well that
although their competitors will snap it up immediately, the
community will remember who did what, and show their respect with
their dollars. Score one for the consumer. Isn’t it appropriate
that, in the virtual world where a person can adopt a new online
identity at will, the only real source of wealth is
credibility.”