The IPcentral Weblog

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Its Not Stifled Competition When the Competition Can't Help Itself

Don Reisinger from CNet writes on the Linux identity crisis-

If you've been following the current rift in the Linux community between Linus Torvalds and his minions squaring off against Con Kolivas and the mainstream Linux fanatics, you probably know that it's getting quite heated. You also probably know that these two entirely different ideas could create three possible paths Linux can take for the future: stay geeky and appeal to the advanced tech guru in all of us; go mainstream and leave the advanced functionality and reliable kernel behind to compete with Microsoft and Apple; or face a "civil war" that could lead to total Linux annihilation.
The FOSS Movement is an interesting phenomenon. Listening to the fanaticism of its supporters, who tout FOSS as transformative of everything from technology to culture, one would expect FOSS to dominate every market and technical space. At the same time, FOSS Movement figures blame IP monopolists for stifling FOSS innovation. As FOSS continues on this inertia of not addressing its own limitations while blaming others for them, IP firms need only stand by and witness the Movement immolate.

posted by Noel Le @ 12:06 PM | Free Culture Movement

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