‘The Community Future,’ a panel report from The Bazaar

By Emmett Plant
Editor, Linux Today

Add two tablespoons of Rob Malda to one cup of Bruce Perens and
stir gently while adding half a cup of Jeff Bates. Then take your
mixture, throw in a dash of Jon Hall and a light dusting of Ken
Coar. Mix this all together in a large bowl with two cups of Chris
DiBona and three pounds of Richard Stallman. Put it in the oven and
bake it for about an hour, and you’ve got the recipe for ‘The
Community Future,’ a panel discussion at The Bazaar this
afternoon.

While the attendance at The Bazaar was not huge today, the panel
drew a crowd of at least two-hundred community enthusiasts waiting
to hear the latest from their heroes. Fortunately, Jon ‘maddog’
Hall was moderating the panel, so things were able to function
smoothly regardless of the personalities involved, and there was a
definite sense of community spirit in the room.

The Linux community is interesting in that serious topics can be
discussed with a sense of humor. As Eric Raymond pointed out later
in the evening, “One of the funniest things about the
commercialization of Linux is that the suits believe that they’re
co-opting us.”When an interesting point was raised from the
audience, Rob, Chris and Jeff held up sheets of paper, ‘judging’
the question or point raised like Olympic judges.

One of these interesting points was the all-inclusive nature of
the ‘Free Software’ definition, especially including the BSD folks,
who have big fans in the Linux community, even though they’re
working with a different operating system. One of the major
differences between the Open and Proprietary worlds is that the
Free Software world welcomes choices and options instead of
shunning them. A big point made is that Linux welcomes their BSD
brethren with open arms, because we believe single solution is
boring.

Another interesting point of focus was brought up by Jon Hall.
Early in the panel, Jon looked toward the audience and said, “How
many people in the audience are currently running Linux at home?”
Nearly all the hands in the crowd shot up. “How many people in the
audience plan on installing Linux when they get home?” A small
number of hands raised. “How many people use Free Software on a
proprietary operating system?” About fifteen hands raised. “That’s
interesting,” Jon said, “And that’s another thing we need to
consider. Free Software is available on proprietary
operating systems, and we can’t forget these people, either.”

Richard Stallman is one of the few people who can take his
allotted three minutes of introduction time, spread it out to ten
minutes, and captivate an audience at the same time. While Richard
can be a bit of a maniac at times, this panel proved once again why
Linux and the Open Source community needs Richard Stallman. Richard
holds true to his beliefs at all times, and will never, ever
deviate. Other panelists will back down in the interest of saving
time, and even capitulate to Richard’s naming conventions and
definitions in his presence. While many will never refer to Linux
as GNU/Linux, Richard will never change. While the GNU Project
people don’t believe that they’re going to change the name of the
popular operating system, they entirely believe in giving credit
where credit is due.

The panel occasionally broke out into riotous laughter. At one
point, Bruce Perens took the floor and said, “Software is like sex.
It’s a really great thing, but it’s best enjoyed when shared with
others.” It’s this sense of humor that makes the Linux and Open
Source community different than anything else out there, and as a
journalist, I hope we never, ever lose it, no matter how many
‘suits’ enter the scene. Needless to say, the panel ended with
strong applause, and most of the crowd left in search of food or
beer, though not necessarily in that order.

More coverage
of The Bazaar.