In article <[log in to unmask]>,
Tom Brandt  <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Which says what about the future of linux itself? Can companies run their
> businesses on an OS maintained by people who do it just because they feel
> like it? Is linux viable in the long term, or will it also do a fast fade?

You can't think of Linux as a "new thing". Linux is just a recent
implementation of a thirty year old operating system that has had
an Open Systems model from the start, and an Open Source model where
and when that's been practical: the original UNIX system's source
code license was $300 for Universities, and around $25,000 for anyone
else. College students effectively had access to it for free, and the
majority of innovations in UNIX that actually came part of the
mainstream came from that college environment.

As time passed, more and more of the Berkeley variant has become Open
Source, until in the last decade it was finally released under the most
liberal license available. Apple is now using this software, under a
dual open/closed model: the OS (Darwin, a FreeBSD on Mach variant) is
Open Source. The application platform (MacOS X, Quartz, etc...) is
proprietary.

So, no, I don't think Linux will do a "fast fade", and even if it did, BSD
would simply step in and replace it.

--
 `-_-'   In hoc signo hack, Peter da Silva.
  'U`    "A well-rounded geek should be able to geek about anything."
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