IBM's ThinkPad-Linux support project being dropped

[Matthew Carpenter]

While this is the attitude of many, you can't forget the culture of
OpenSource.  Many people write OSS for the joy of doing it and the ability
to use their own creation.  That's why there are so many drivers for Video
cards withi personal email addresses for the maintainers.  That's why Xine
and other projects exist.  The Linux and the FSF aren't necessarily out to
kill Microsoft (although there are many on the sidelines hoping for a
complete KO), but to create software that is available to everyone with
the guarantee of staying that way.  It is working.  Many of us, however,
see the value of Linux/GPL in business and there is some money to be made
(not as much as many multi-billionaires wish, but a decent living).  We
see it as a war, as do many of the programmers involved.  But the ideals
behind the GPL are indescriminate with regards to friends/enemies.  The
concept is to write code, good code, once and then fix it as needed.  This
is a very foreign and almost offensive concept for a lot of
Americans/Capitalists since it seems a lot like Socialism.  The truth is,
though, that it is just a great concept, and one that I believe will be
around for a long time.  The problems come when someone gets greedy and
wanted to capitalize on a market that up to this point has been VERY
lucrative.  When I first started dealing with specialized software markets
for international trade and governmental reporting, etc... I was AMAZED at
the dollar amounts that would be paid for ho-hum software made by people
who were asking ME implementational questions and listening to my opinions
(being a network admin at the time).  

No, the desktop is an important area, whether business-sense says so or
not.  Because Claus from Germany and Billy from Tennessee want to enjoy
what they've done and in a non-Microsoft way.  Whether they view Windows
as a virus or not...


On Fri, 21 Jun 2002 15:30:54 +0800
"m.w.chang" <mwchang at netvigator.com> wrote:

> I do think that the guys who are doing linux desktop development was 
> over-ambitious. They should not aim to replace Win$ totally, but the 
> business-related functions of W$.