Rob,
Microsoft was not on Linus's mind when he started work on his first Kernel. It was a UNIX like OS for the 386 Intel processor. Microsoft was not on the many programmers who submitted their first patches and improvements. They were, if I am not mistaken, mostly from a UNIX environment.
What their focus was and still is the sheer exhiliration and fun in being part of a such a project. Have you ever been involved in a project where you spent considerable time and energy, using skills you had acquired, and doing it for nothing except the satisfaction of seeing the project succeed? I have done so, and know many others who have done so. Habitat for Humanity is an example of an organization that does such on a regular basis.
Not a religion. Just people helping out other people. No focus on some "enemy". A focus on doing something creative to help out others.
The Open Source Community does not see Microsoft as an enemy, except when it overtly or covertly acts as one. It does not have its focus on hating Microsoft. Indeed, the Open Source Community's greatest weakness, if you would call it such, is it's very lack of focus. There are so many sub groups working on so many projects, many of which are never completed. I do not know how that compares with proprietary models, but many proprietary software products also are never completed, are never marketed.
To be sure, the Open Source Community has attracted a lot of disgruntled former Microsoft users. And they are disgruntled for a reason. I would imagine that is where most of the flames against Microsoft would come from.
I was never a Microsoft advocate in the first place. I started out with OS9 on a Radio Shack Color Computer. I was a GEOS user when I learned about Linux. It just suited my fancy. I do not hate Microsoft or its products. I have my own opionions about those products and some of their business practices. Using Linux is a matter of principle for me, but not a religion. Nor do I think that it can be accurately described as a religion and those who advocate Open Source and Linux as religious zealots as a group.
There is differing beliefs on the two sides. One a belief in a totally closed and controlled proprietary model where the restrictions are used to benefit the company and the other is a model in which the voluntary restrictions are used to benefit anyone who wishes to use the software.
If you will check back on the history of the Linux movement, I think that you will find that as long as it was mostly the domain of the geeks, that it attracted little notice by Microsoft. It was only after large enterprise corporations such as IBM, SGI, Oracle, etc. began to see the possibilities in Linux that Microsoft belatedly started taking Linux seriously.
Now it is true that there are zealots on both sides, but it is fallacious to categorize an entire movement by the actions of the fringe zealots who engage their toungues/word processors/ etc. before they engage their brains.
I have entertained the thought in passing that your articles often seem to play to those very fringes. They do seem to be long on rhetoric and short on any real facts. Hope I am not categorizing you.
Glenn
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Re: Microsoft vs. Linux: The Battle for Belief
Re: Microsoft vs. Linux: The Battle for Belief
