January 16, 2007
Pay it UP!
"...I will differ with you in that I believe Linux has taken off. If you are looking only with eyes of an economist it would be hard to distinguish that in fact Linux is in flight. For one thing, penguins are a flightless bird at home in cold water where they soar as much as they waddle when they walk on land. Linux is not your average community project.
If you look at competitive markets, there is only one Microsoft, and only one Mac OS, but there are at least 4 commercial distributions of Linux, not to mention the plethora of free distributions. As much as there seem to be three main desktop OS options, the fact is there are more. If that would spell out competative for you I could stop there. As far as market share success, we have seen the pie; but what shows in the pie? The Money? No. The fact that Linux shows up at all is a testament to it's basic success, given it's general lack of funding. Dedication to purpose is clear sign of success, or so the MacAdicts will tell you; does that same generalization apply to Linux, only if Linux is running on a Mac. I am trying to just stick to desktop Linux because that is how I believe you framed the the question, but if I were to digress at the diversity of the market, I would say count the number of hardware platforms the system is applied to, at that you can see a wing flap but it is not the flight you speak of. The fact that you have to ask about success in a narrow range, imho, says most comparisons should be going the other way in terms of proof of success. To me that is a sign of success...
Linux will succeed in the face of commercial apps that run on it long beyond any quarterly statement because people make it. They love to make it. And because they love to do it, it will persist against fiscal judgments. Will any one become another Bill Gates out of the Linux world? I doubt that kind of success will follow any individual out of the Linux world even Linus Torvolds, that kind of success only comes from an overwhelming self-serving capitalist. That doesn't make Bill evil, just rich; and he has the rest of his life to work out what community service means to himself. Because in the long run, the success of Linux will not only be financial, but in it's diversity as a good place for education, arts, and community, because people just want it that way."
The most inspiring analysis of the open-source movement I think I have seen.
See the full comment response to a sleezy scam proposal.
Linux is about Freedom. No other OS gives you so many choices and options. Linux had been running on x86, AMD 64, and PPC architectures to name a few before windows got on a mac and mac got on a pc. I agree with Paul. Linux is a community project. People across the country and across the world gather at conferences, etc to develop this software without monetary compensation. You know what? He's right! Linux never can and never should be evaluated with the same conventions as proprietary software. If you measure the success of Linux soley based on mainstream appeal, you are missing the point of Linux.
Linux doesn't lack a mainstream audience because of this concept of "by geeks, for geeks." Who ever authored that one is a flaming idiot (just like the author of "for us or against us"). I am an artist of sorts who is really happy with the sheer amount of options to express creativity in Linux. (I'm starting a magazine with a friend with the goal of using only F/OSS for pre-press). All the parts are there, but you got to help put 'em together. Linux is absent of a mass mainstream audience because the mass mainstream audience is still living in that glittering corporate illusion that computers are chic, sexy and "just work." It's rather pathetic. Computers are machines. If you don't know how the computer functions to complete your tasks other than the pretty little rainbow pinwheel spins for five hours, you won't be able to complete those tasks with the most efficiency.
That's right. I went there. Adobe Photoshop is just a centralized GUI that automates the same tasks that can be performed in Linux if you invest time in knowing what you are doing.
If you are looking for a "free-beer commercial equivalent," don't use Linux. Go download some cracks. If you want to free your world from corporate lock-ins, big media company restrictions, and hype... you've come to the right place. Welcome to the land of the living. Everyone else will be joining us eventually.
To all you proprietary software vendors: Pay it up!
Posted by EvanReynolds at January 16, 2007 4:11 AM
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