[Tfug] "Linux is a forking mess."

[Claude Rubinson]

On Thu, Jul 19, 2007 at 06:52:20PM +0000, Earl wrote:
> I think this author and most authors of this type of "analysis" miss
> the main point of the Linux situation/movement.  Linux users really
> don't give a damn what the these authors think.  We get ticked at their
> comments sometimes but do we really care?  We're off doing our own
> thing and don't care whether Linux replaces Windoze or not.  

I basically agree with that statement.  The problem is whether we can
continue to do our own thing or not.  For some people, that's an issue
of proprietary software, protocols, apis, etc.  To me, that's not that
big of a deal, we've developed and will continue to develop our own
ecosystem that will provide the necessary functionality.

What's more of a concern to me--and what drives a lot of the FSF's
work today, including the GPL3--is the threat that things like
software patents, drm, and tivoisation will strangle the f/oss
ecosystem by preventing the development and/or use of free software.

Day to day, it doesn't really matter to me what other people use.  As
long as I'm free to keep doing what I'm doing, I'm willing to take the
extra amount of effort that's required to, for example, get my
wireless working with the university's new WPA2 network.  (Which,
incidentally, I finally solved by taking the path of least resistance
and buying a new network card.  But what if Linux drivers weren't
permitted to be written?  Then where would I be?)

C.