The Register reports of open source guru Eric Raymond speaking at LinuxWorld on how "the (open source) community is not moving fast enough to engage with non-technical users whose first-choice platform is either (the) iPod, MP3 player or Microsoft desktop running Windows Media Player." Raymond expressed concern that this will result in open source being "locked out of the desktop for a very long time," possibly "30-odd years until the next platform shift."

Now, I'm not a fan of Raymond. I considered his book Cathedral and the Bazaar as self-glorfying romanticism. However, Raymond does see the future of open source more clearly than some others at LinuxWorld. The Register, noting Raymond's observation that technology users "don't care about our notions of doctrinal purity," writes:

Raymond apparently isolated himself on the issue of using binary drivers in Linux - a hotly contested issue in the open source movement. Binary drivers are platform, format and hardware specific and can make applications like multimedia run smoothly on a PC or device. Binary drivers are considered an evil for open source because of their proprietary nature, however Raymond called support for them on Linux "a necessary compromise."

If the open source crowd finds adopting the simple practice of leveraging binary drivers hard to swallow while their future viability is at stake, I would consider how else ideology misdirects efforts at profitability and technical progress in open source businesses.