[PLUG-TALK] World Domination 201

M. Edward (Ed) Borasky znmeb at cesmail.net
Sun Dec 31 19:27:01 UTC 2006


Larry Brigman wrote:
> The biggest way that this will move forward is if both schools and
> some businesses
> use Linux on the desktop.  This is what moved the OS into the home.
> It will spark
> the education process that no amount of documentation in the system 
> could cover.
> Apple successfully used this for education to the point that most (and
> still a lot) of
> graphical minded businesses use nothing but Mac's in their graphics 
> departments.
>
> There is a small movement going on already (but it is still too small
> to make a dent)
> in using the (try it) system of the LiveCD.  Look at the amount of new
> user posts on
> LinuxQuestions and UbuntuForums.  Getting these people educated and 
> helped
> without alienating them is crucial.
Well ... yeah ... but

1. Raymond is an "advocate" for Linux displacing Windows and MacOS. But 
he states (I'm paraphrasing) that if things continue on their present 
course, MacOS will win this battle if Steve Jobs wants to win it.

2. The specific areas where Raymond noted drastic weaknesses in the 
Linux offering were not so much "system administration" issues as they 
were financial and legal ones, especially Mr. Brelin's home turf, 
intellectual property, multi-media, software patents, et. al..

3. I personally am not at all sure I want to live in a world run by 
either lawyers or programmers, and I find Eric Raymond's view of "World 
Domination" as chilling as any. Linux is about freedom ... freedom to 
run Windows or MacOS if that meets your needs better than Linux does, 
for example. And I think it's also about the freedom to protect 
intellectual property. In short, I am free to give away software I wish 
to give away, but I am not free to give away the fruits of someone 
else's labor.


-- 
M. Edward (Ed) Borasky, FBG, AB, PTA, PGS, MS, MNLP, NST, ACMC(P)
http://borasky-research.blogspot.com/

If God had meant for carrots to be eaten cooked, He would have given rabbits fire.




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