On 2009-07-15 20:04, B. Estrade wrote:
[snip]
> So, this brings up an interesting question - what dog does IBM have in
> the GPL/BSD fight other than it is a way to weaken its chief
> competitors? In other words, while BSD gives them a base upon which
> they may build a product (and maintain, but give away for peanuts if
> they wish to sell what they really want to, hardware) or just support
> GPL and its horde of minions doing its bidding? If you ask me, it is a
> brilliant strategy. For me, however, it is the BSD community that is more
> in touch with reality and their own dignity, and are more concerned with hacking
I think that IBM jumped on the Linux wagon because in 1998 the
pyrrhic Unix Wars were still fresh in people's minds, and
Microsoft's ascendancy was obvious.
See, the Unix Wars were the unintended consequence of the BSD
license: each company grabs the original code, and starts extending
it (cc, the libraries, utilities, etc, etc) in ways incompatible
with every other Unix variant.
That made the MSFT salesman's job Very Easy: tired of all the
inconsistency between platforms? Come to Windows!
Linux, because of the GPL *and*, just as importantly, Linus' strong
leadership, works against reigniting another Unix War.
-- Scooty Puff, Sr The Doom-Bringer ___________________ Nolug mailing list nolug@nolug.orgReceived on 07/19/09
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