__/ [George Ellison] on Wednesday 04 January 2006 16:15 \__
> "Oliver Garraux" <olrbengax@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
>
>> Hello, I'm doing a project on the history of Linux/open source for
>> school and have a few questions(basically a survey) about Linux/open
>> source that I'd like to have your opinions on.
>>
>> I've read a few books (The Cathedral and the Bazaar, Just for Fun) and
>> watched a documentary(Revolution OS) on this, so right now I'm wanting
>> to get the opinions of regular people in the community. I have my own
>> opinions on most of the questions I'm asking, so I'm wanting to see
>> how/if my opinions relfect everyone elses.
>>
>
> What the hell, I'll give it a shot. This is just my own damn opinion,
> though.
>
>> 1. What events do you think have been more important in the success of
>> Linux?
>>
>
> Personally, I'd say a big one has been many of the old Unix vendors moving
> over. We were enterprise scalable before, but no one seemed to know it.
>
>> 2. Do you think that Richard Stallman's image of sort of an
>> anti-capitalist hippy(I don't necessarily agree with that image but you
>> get my point) has hurt the adoption and success of open source?
>>
>
> Not really. He's a bit of a paraiah even within the community itself, due
> to his attitude even towards people who agree with him 99% of the time.
>
>> 3. Do you agree or disagree with Linus Torvalds remarks about him being
>> the engineer and Stallman being the great philosopher?
>>
>
> Nowadays, yes. RMS's engineering days seem to be behind him, with obvious
> exceptions such as GNU Emacs.
>
>> 4. Do you feel that another kernel would have come along and taken the
>> place of Linux in completing the GNU system if Linux wasn't written or
>> came about later?
>>
>
> Maybe, maybe not. If Linux hadn't made it, the BSD's would probably have
> moved in and took over.
>
>> 5. What do you think has made Linux as successful and popular as it is
>> compared to HURD, or some of the BSD's?
>>
>
> Being there. HURD has been golden vaporware ever since 1990, and the move
> to L4 is probably going to push it back even more. The BSD's were in legal
> limbo until 1994, and couldn't really catch up despite being technically
> superior in some respects.
>
>> 6. Who do you feel is the real leader of the open source movement -
>> Linus, Stallman, someone else?
>>
>
> Fuck leaders. If I had to pick though, I'd probably say Linus. He doesn't
> speak out much, which makes him harder to tune out than RMS or ESR.
>
>> 7. In the early days of Linux(91-00), what do you think held Linux back
>> the most?
>>
>
> Lack of awareness. After Linux went legit in 98 or so, it pretty much
> turned into a matter of time.
>
>> 8. If you could change any historical events regarding open source to
>> make open source more prevalent today, what would you change?
>>
>
> I'd go back in time and push Darl McBride into an open sewer.
>
>> 9. What do you think has been the single most important event as far as
>> getting to be adopted by more businesses?
>>
>
> Netscape's release of the Mozilla source. Oracle and IBM followed on
> shortly afterwards, and it just snowballed from there.
>
>> 10. Do you think that the GNU GPL has hurt or helped open source
>> overall?
>>
>
> Helped. If the BSD's had won out, IBM and such would have just snapped up
> the available code without giving anything back. Linux's popularity and the
> nature of the GPL pretty much fo#rces their hand.
>
>> Thanks for your time and your opinions. :)
>
> No problem. Now let's see if somebody who actually knows something picks
> this up.
Others would suggest that the OP is /flatfish/ under a new name (or dress). I
sure hope they are wrong because it didn't smell fishy. Then again, I don't
keep track of the headers. They don't look suspicious either in that case.
Roy
|
|
