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LPC: Fitting into the kernel ecosystem

LPC: Fitting into the kernel ecosystem

Posted Sep 18, 2008 11:53 UTC (Thu) by Lovechild (guest, #3592)
In reply to: LPC: Fitting into the kernel ecosystem by hppnq
Parent article: LPC: Fitting into the kernel ecosystem

You confuse the point as it relates to businesses consuming Free Software and developers employed by said companies.

If your business depends on Free Software, then as a business it is in your best interest to help shape it. If you work for one of these companies and they prevent you from participating then quitting is a sensible option - for you and for the company. Eventually brain drain will force these companies to reevaluate their position and take a more active role, till then good fortune has it that the sector is booming, jobs are not far between so quitting is not neccesarily a bad choice. That is if you, the developer, enjoy being part of the Free Software community and participating actively, if not then by all means enjoy your job.

Not once has the Canonical developers been blamed for Canonical' lack of contributions, that is a business decision, as such the business is the one with which the problem is debated.


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LPC: Fitting into the kernel ecosystem

Posted Sep 18, 2008 13:31 UTC (Thu) by hppnq (guest, #14462) [Link]

Indeed, why didn't Greg make his point in the Novell canteen instead of at this relatively high profile public conference?

The way I understood it, is that not a single distributor of (free) software is required to do anything, except adhere to the license(s) under which the software is distributed. Confusing this kind of clarity with more or less meaningless statistics and emotional pleas is business as usual.

LPC: Fitting into the kernel ecosystem

Posted Sep 18, 2008 14:50 UTC (Thu) by mmcgrath (subscriber, #44906) [Link]

"The way I understood it, is that not a single distributor of (free) software is required to do anything"

This is the difference between the spirit and the letter of open source software. The letter must be followed, and is. The spirit should be, otherwise high profile developers will crap all over you for not being part of the ecosystem.

LPC: Fitting into the kernel ecosystem

Posted Sep 18, 2008 20:08 UTC (Thu) by hppnq (guest, #14462) [Link]

Has it started already?

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