[PLUG] huh?? commercialized or irrelevant?

[Russell Senior]

>>>>> "Keith" == Keith Lofstrom <keithl at kl-ic.com> writes:

Keith> Jane Smallbusinesswoman will not use Linux until she can get
Keith> this support.  

Where does she get it today with MS stuff?  Likely, the same class of
consultants that are already also available for FOSS.

Keith> [...] But all this has very little to do with most of the stuff
Keith> we spend our time doing.  It involves helping computer-ignorant
Keith> users, and many of us are too elitist for that. [...]

For me, it isn't about elitism, it's that i am not terribly interested
in computer support (outside the clinics, and those aren't support so
much as they are sharing my problem-solving skills/experience).
Elitism implies I think I am better than they are.  I don't.  I do
what works for me and I assume that other people to do what works for
them.  I'm happy to help where I can, because I am just a sharer by
nature.

I use Linux as a platform for solving problems.  I use it because it
lets me focus on my problems, not on Bill Gates' problems.  For me,
Microsoft basically doesn't even exist and hasn't existed since the
early 1990s.  I don't want to think about it and I usually don't have
to.

Recently, I was able to build a data collection platform on top of a
Knoppix CD so that I could continue developing on a sane platform and
the end-user could use whatever random hardware they had and I didn't
have to worry about their existing software environment.

To say that linux needs to succeed commercially to be relevant is
bogus.  It succeeded for me a long time ago and there isn't very much
that could happen that would reverse that success.  It might need to
"succeed commercially" (whatever that means) in order to generate
direct jobs for people.  So, that might seem relevant for economic
development wonks (who tradeoff public investment/incentives against
future tax revenues).  But FOSS succeeds and draws investment because
of the money it saves (and the control/flexibility it provides), not
so much because of the money it has the potential to extract from
others.

I wish Scott Kveton good luck, etc, but his success is not
particularly relevant to me.


-- 
Russell Senior         ``I have nine fingers; you have ten.''
seniorr at aracnet.com