Free Software, at Least to a Certain Point. The free software foundation holds a dinner and passes the hat, collecting $6,000 to keep the thing going. Why? "Mr. Stallman’s point, now supported by many thousands of programmers worldwide, is that software becomes better when more people can work on it. Recently, several companies, including I.B.M., Sun Microsystems and Red Hat, have started trying to make money on that premise by selling software and technical support for Linux, the main competitor to Microsoft’s Windows."
This is just so much baloney. Linux is demonstrably not better than Windows. It’s more difficult to use, supports fewer devices, and uses an outdated kernel architecture (even Linus admits that he should have written a microkernel). Furthermore, a business built on service margins cannot compete effectively with a business built on IP margins. Red Hat is still in business is because they live off the good will of the open source programmers that aren’t on their payroll.
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry make Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
