| Is Linux heading for civil war? |
Jun. 28, 2007
Opinion -- Microsoft's partnership with Novell got a lot of people in the open-source community fired up. Since then, Microsoft's Linux deals with Linspire and Xandros have just thrown gasoline on the fire. Now, it appears that Red Hat, the leading Linux company and the most vocal opponent to Microsoft wheeling and dealing, tried to make its own deal with Microsoft before the Novell one was released.
So, what's going on here? As Kevin Carmony, Linspire's CEO and president, rhetorically asks in his latest public column, "Is Linux Splitting into Two Factions?"
Carmony says: "Saying that Linux is going to be torn in two makes for good press and lively debates, but this is certainly nothing new for Linux. There are far more material splits today in the Linux world, such as Debian vs. RPM, KDE vs. GNOME, Distro A vs. Distro B, and so on. These divisions are quite material, and dilute significant energy and efforts across competing standards. However, we accept this as the price we pay for freedom of choice."
I see the current uproar between those who partner with Microsoft -- Novell, Linspire and Xandros -- and those that swear off Microsoft partnerships -- Ubuntu and Mandriva -- as being just another variation on the theme of open-source pragmatism versus free software idealism.
To read the rest of Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols' eWEEK.com article, go here.
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