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Software and Technology by
Hari
Posted on Wed, Aug 9, 2006 at 23:37 IST (last updated: Wed, Oct 29, 2008 @ 22:33 IST)
I had written an article some time back about how Linux faces a potential threat in the form of fence-sitting freeloaders who constantly crib and complain about Linux without anything positive to contribute. It's also quite true that veteran Linux users generally tend to cut these critics down to size and generally restore harmony in the world.
There is another side of the issue here which is probably a bigger threat to the Linux community in the long run than the one I mentioned before. It's not Microsoft or Intel, IBM or Sun Microsystems. It's about the internal conflict within the community itself. I'm talking about the eternal ideological conflicts and subconflicts that keep rupturing and fragmenting the community into smaller and smaller pieces. Don't know what I'm talking about? You should probably read about the history of the GNU movement. It all began when Open Source was born and acquired a distinct and separate identity from Free Software. Still confused? It's quite possible, because today people continue using the terms Free Software and Open Source interchangeably, although Open Source is arguably the more popular term. While I don't want to get into the history of this ideological rift, I am sure that most of today's problems in the FOSS world can be traced to those events.
The increasing commercial interest in Linux poses new challenges which the community has to deal with. Corporates are seriously looking at Linux as a business opportunity. Let's have no illusions about that. While this is essentially a good thing, it can also be a bad thing because corporations are more interested in their own growth rather than about the future of Linux. They will continue supporting Linux only as long as it makes business sense to do so. So they really cannot be relied on as a powerful ally of the community at large. Add to this the constant and confusing battles over which is better - the GPL-type license or the BSD-style license? Developers continue to fight over what is the best way to cover their backs while at the same time keeping the freedom envisioned by GNU alive. In some cases, it's also become fashionable to bash the FSF and GNU and instead adopt more restrictive licenses while still using the term "Open Source" leading to more confusion. Add to this the heartburn over software patents, Java, DRM, the GPL v3, Trusted Computing and the increasing worry about how to make FOSS commercially feasible. The last one is probably the most important issue because it is extremely sensitive because fundamental values and systems differ from individual to individual and this has probably the potential for maximum disagreement within the community. There is always talk about how to make money with FOSS, but rarely do we see any concrete examples of this put into action. A majority of the major FOSS projects today survive today purely out of voluntary community support. How long will these developers have the time and energy to maintain these software while getting no monetary reward out of them? Is corporate funding really a solution or will this lead to restrictions of software freedom and more importantly restrictions on creativity of future development? Difficult questions that need answers in the near future.
All these issues separately are minor ones, but they all point to a deeper rift - essentially a value conflict among those who belong to the community in general. This is dangerous because cooperation was what built Linux and conflict can just as easily ruin that work. Especially if that conflict becomes a conflagration.
These doomsday scenarios might sound far-fetched, but my observation over the last few years is that the Linux community is just drifting along - which is a dangerous thing - and we need to wake up while we're still ahead of the game. I'm not sure about the ideological drive behind the community any more. If it exists, it has weakened considerably. The new generation of Linux users no longer seem to care about the fundamental values driving FOSS. They want Free Beer and don't care about the Free Speech part of Linux. They know Linux exists and know its benefits, but seem to have the attitude that there's probably more where that came from and somehow, somebody with a majic wand will keep producing Free Software forever.
Sure, you'll probably say that a majority of us aren't programmers and couldn't do much with the source code so why should we care, but that's not the point. It's *understanding* what that freedom stands for that's more important because we'll know why we need to defend those freedoms. Never underestimate the power of ideology.
So if you haven't already do yourself a favour. Read the history of Linux, the GNU movement and Open Source. Wikipedia is a great source to start with. Find out and think about why these differences exist in the community. Take a stance, analyze it and last, but not the least, understand the full picture. Every serious Linux user and fan in today's environment needs to be informed and empowered if we're to make a difference.
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