Subj : Microsoft vs. open-source
To   : art
From : Nightfox
Date : Sat Jan 30 2010 21:35:00

  Re: Microsoft vs. open-source
  By: art to Nightfox on Sat Jan 30 2010 22:22:14

 >  > community of people to work on, so that bugs and issues can be resolved
 >  > than they would be with a (comparatively) small group of people working o
 >  > it.

 > That's true in theory, but in practice, I think Microsoft would have more
 > people working on a kernel issue than Linux or BSD, for example? For instanc
 > Microsoft issued a hotfix recently on the request of one of our clients. At 
 > same time, I've had some great "real-time" support from a lot of OS develope
 > and I think that has a great advantage. But that's me personally, most
 > companies don't buy into that, which is unfortunate.

With an open-source project, it's probably more difficult to count how many
people are working on a particular task at any given time.

At any rate, Linux has been around since 1991 (at least just the kernel); the
GNU project has been working on the GNU Linux tools since the early 90s, and
from what I've noticed, it seems that Linux is only growing in popularity.  I
continue to occasionally hear new stories about Linux being used in new places
and for different projects - for instance, I've heard about Linux being used in
embedded environments and for lightweight PCs and laptops; I've also heard of
big companies supporting Linux - IBM, for example, installs Linux on their
server machines.  So, it seems that Linux must be benefitting enough people and
businesses for it to continue to grow and be used in various projects and
products.  I don't think Linux is going away, and despite its still somewhat
slow growth in the marketplace, I imagine that Linux and other open-source
tools will continue to be a thorn in Microsoft's side (in fact, a few years
ago, I heard stories that Microsoft tried to claim that certain code in Linux
violates Microsoft's patents, therefore claiming royalties on Linux).

Nightfox

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