[CLUE-Talk] "red hat - the new redmond?" comment from mainstream online media

[Matt Gushee]

On Sat, Sep 07, 2002 at 02:53:07PM -0600, David Anselmi wrote:
> >
> >Is it Open Source, or is it Linux? It seems to me that one reason for
> >the longevity of Linux applications has to be that the fundamental
> >architecture of Linux systems has changed very little. In my 5 1/2 years
> >using Linux, probably the most important changes I've observed are:
> >
> >  a.out executables eliminated in favor of ELF
> >  transition from libc5 to glibc
> >  XFree86 4.0
> >  the gradual introduction of journaling filesystems
> 
> No, it is not Linux.  RMS will be quick to tell you that only the kernel 
> is Linux, so although these changes may impact/depend on the kernel, 
> only the last seems to be a Linux change.  And since XFree86 isn't GPL, 
> Open Source seems like the most accurate way to characterize the group.

Okay, you're right as far as that goes. But you seemed to be saying that
the longer lifetimes of applications on Linux had to do with them (or
the system) being Open Source. And I was questioning that, saying that
it's probably because the platform (Linux, GNU/Linux, GNU/Linux/X,
whatever you want to call it) has been fairly stable. Of course, in an
indirect sense you may be right, since most proprietary software
companies depend on planned obsolescence to market their products,
whereas Open Source software generally doesn't change until someone
wants it to change.

-- 
Matt Gushee
Englewood, Colorado, USA
mgushee at havenrock.com
http://www.havenrock.com/