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LinuxDig.Com : Is Linux Socialist?
Author: HumanX | Tuesday January 11, 2005
An article caught my eye the other day which accused Linux of destroying America's software industry and called Linux a Socialist movement. Well I say Linux is a beautiful capitalist flower. Read on....
"Jeff Merkey, who used to be chief scientist at Novell and wrote NetWare's SMP kernel, calls open source a "socialist movement that's destroying the software industry in America." (Linux Business Week: Cherokee Indians To Encircle Open Source?)
Alright folks let me just tell you, I am an American and I am a capitalist, both of which are very dear to me. I am quite sure if you are from another country you may very well like or hate me because of it, rarely is it in between.
And because I am a capitalist, I happen to think Linux is one of the greatest opportunities given to the free market place. Capitalism is freedom by its very meaning and Linux thrives in that freedom.
Capitalism: An economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined manly by competition in a free market.
Linux was handed to the world and says if you can make money with this; then do it, and so the world has. Linux companies are growing, Red Hat has prospered, Novell has bet the ranch and the list goes on.
Capitalism breeds companies such as Microsoft which dominate the market with their might and money. Capitalism allows for market response, I will choose Linux, Apple or any other competing operating system. Linux is not forced upon us, Linux is about choice. The same choice that developers have when they choose to share there software.
Now do not get me wrong here, I have personally stated that there is room for both open source and proprietary software in a competitive market. The competitive market needs both. Why? Because there are many kinds of people in this world and not all of them are computer savvy. Capitalism needs competition to survive and if anything, Linux is a breading ground for competition.
Software is software and if I grew my own food in the backyard instead of going to the local grocery store then would I to be a socialist? Look, in my humble opinion, if you do not see Linux as a competitive movement with the potential to make money, fine, go buy some tomatoes.
A perfect example, ISP’s. Think of how many people have had the opportunity to make money from eCommerce, websites and so forth. Absent the burden of expensive licenses which would have stifled competition, due to Apache and Linux, the internet exploded and a great many people have made a capitalist penny.
Where would the internet be today without Linux I wander? Would there be MILLIONS of websites? Would there only be 20-30 ISPS and consumers would have to continue to settle for outages? (Remember those days) No, Linux has helped shape the internet we know today because of its free and competitive nature.
Admit it or not. But due to Linux we have choice, not only through operating systems but through the millions of web sites we visit every day. Without the low cost of Linux, competition would have been stifled possibly due to large companies squashing and controlling competition. Remember Netscape? Imaging a world without Linux, there might not be a Google!
I am quite sure that some companies have been hurt by open source. I am sure some companies have been hurt by closed source. People are hurt in the competitive arena, no big secret there.
Personally I see proprietary software closer to socialism then open source. Proprietary software forces conformity and the loss of choice, hey if it is theoretical discussion, then proprietary software could be seen as fascist if open source did not exist and only the big companies controlled our computing world. The spirit of Linux Socialist? Only if you cannot compete.
Story by: HumanX
You can contact me at http://www.linuxdig.com/documents/contact_linuxdig.php
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