By Brian Proffitt
Managing Editor
So, I’m walking aimlessly through the LinuxWorld Expo floor, a
rare break between appointments. Around me are booths, booths, and
more booths, with the occasional penguin or talking robot milling
about in the crowd.
Crowd there is, too. There are more people here than there were
last year, it seems to me, though the offical numbers have’t been
released yet. The energy level is high, that’s for sure. Gone are
the dismal days of 2001 when several attendees were morosely
passing out their resumes looking for work. This week, Google is
here, soliciting business cards for people to work for them.
It’s not a party here, not quite. But the suits and the t-shirts
are no longer struggling for domination of the show as they were in
years past. The corporate-types and the development-types have
settled into a nicer, smoother dance. Oracle has beanbag chairs in
their massive igloo-dominated area, and the .org Pavillion was more
than accomodating to their corporate guests.
The cultures had their differences, still. A crowd of geeks
decended on a book signing by Eric Raymond, much to the bemusement
of the businesspeople watching from nearby. Of course, the suits
were the spectators when Bruce Perens was being interviewed on The
Linux Show.
Don’t get me wrong, things were cordial and upbeat. But
repeatedly I kept seeing these tiny examples of how there is still
a gap between the two worlds of Linux. This is a gap that may
always be there–but I saw more efforts to reach across that gap
than ever before.
A staffer of a major distribution asked me during the show what
I thought would be the best way to deal with the community. I told
them that “deal with” was the wrong approach. “Work with” is
better.
If the community is approached as a partner and valuable
resource, I explained, then they will feel respected and will in
turn respect you.
Will my words help change the course of a major business? You
never know. But I think the businesses of Linux are really seeing
the community as something to approach, not avoid.
It’s been a long week, but a fun one. Get ready for an
interesting year ahead, as we see if synergy can indeed be created
betwen Linux’ two worlds.