[ale] Opera 7.11 Linux Final is Out

[Jason Day]

On Wed, May 21, 2003 at 03:38:29PM -0400, Synco Gibraldter wrote:
> 
> 
> in the sense of pure capitalism, what you say makes perfect sense.  but
> linux didn't come around off of capitalism.  it has THRIVED off of a
> complete lack of capitalism.  so there's a natural boundary that's always
> existed between open source software development and money.  i really like
> it because it produces better software, better security, and zero cost.

That's kind of hard to quantify.  Linux has certainly thrived among
geeks looking for a unix for x86.  But would linux have the mainstream
acceptance it currently enjoys if nobody were allowed to sell it, or
even produce closed-source software for it?  I think that's extremely
unlikely, to say the least.  Especially when you consider that the first
graphical web browser for linux was Netscape Navigator, which was
closed-source at the time.  Would an open-source Mozilla even exist
today, if Navigator had never been ported to linux?  Who knows.

> 
> selling software on this platform is counter-productive to the movement
> which has carried it this far.  it can only bring in more commercial
> vendors and turn this whole thing into a 'market' when it's never been (or
> needed to be) like that at all.

You are making huge assumptions without backing anything up.

I also find it somewhat amusing that you put words in the linux
developers' mouths that directly contradict some things that Linus
himself has said.  You are aware that Linus uses BitKeeper, a
proprietary, closes-source, for-money version control system to track
changes in the kernel, aren't you?

FWIW, I agree with your statements about security and source code
availability.  But I don't want closed-source development and/or
products to be banned for linux.  I *want* to use Nvidea's video
drivers.  I *want* to play Neverwinter Nights without having to reboot
into Windows, or use Wine.  And, most importantly, I *want* businesses
to take linux seriously, not view it as a toy OS suitable only for geeks
and hobbyists.

Jason
-- 
Jason Day                                       jasonday at
http://jasonday.home.att.net                    worldnet dot att dot net
 
"Of course I'm paranoid, everyone is trying to kill me."
    -- Weyoun-6, Star Trek: Deep Space 9
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