“The Linux movement was built, in part, around the idea of
correcting corporate ‘mistakes’ in commercially distributed
software, and to provide a freely available, stable operating
system. Talk of spreading Linux to the masses was always there, but
outsiders considered it a pipe dream.
Overnight, that dream appears to be coming true. Corporations
the likes of IBM Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. are suddenly
declaring support for Linux, leaving Linux followers wondering how
best to work with these new and powerful partners-and whether the
infusion of large-scale business interests might cramp their style.
It’s as if General Mills were to buy a controlling interest in Ben
& Jerry’s, putting a tie-dyed ethos under the same corporate
umbrella as a Brooks Brothers culture.”
” ‘Because we have shown how much we can do, we don’t have to
feel desperate to work with this corporation or that one,’ Wall
said. ‘We don’t have to change what we’re doing to join them.’
“