“Last week my ZDNet colleague Mary Jo Foley asked publicly why
Linux backers don’t fear its new big friends. With many members of
the traditional high-tech industry jumping on the open source
bandwagon — including IBM, Intel, Dell and others — she wants to
know why Linux users aren’t protesting. Or predicting doom. Or even
complaining.”
“Elsewhere, some contemplate the (rather silly to me) notion of
Microsoft getting seriously into the Linux OS market, wondering
whether Redmond’s influence would disrupt the current open source
dynamics. Feedback was understandably incredulous, but hardly
fearful.”
“It doesn’t really take long to understand the lack of fear,
once you understand why Linux even exists.”
“Simply put, the movement towards free and open source software
and the associated shift in power is bigger than IBM, HP, Compaq,
and Sun all rolled up together. It’s a social movement that is
slowly but surely changing the way that people develop software and
think about their computers.”