[TriLUG] Where is Linux today?

[Douglas A. Whitfield]

On Tue, Jun 24, 2008 at 4:17 PM, Cristóbal Palmer <cmp at cmpalmer.org> wrote:

> If you feel that way, then what hope is there for the majority of people
> who don't have the commitment that you do?
>
> I respect and honor the work you've put into Open Source, TriLUG, and
> Linux. I'm sorry my post came across as an attack.


I was thinking this before this afternoon's posts, but I think it even more
now.  To some degree this may just be a case of the hippie syndrome...you
know, where rebels grow up, get jobs and become the status quo.  I say this
based on the small sample size of myself, Cristobal and Tom (who just went
back to grad school at UNC, but I don't actually know his age) and the
assumption that everyone else posting is older.  This may entirely not be
the case.  I'd also be interested to see how many people that have dealt
with Linux for a long time have left frustrated.  Is there a 10 year window
before frustration sets in and will the products getting better make that go
away.  It's just an interesting dynamic and it seems similar to politics.
For instance, I had a friend that is just slightly younger  than me say that
if Obama didn't get the nominations all the college kids were going to check
out from politics (or maybe it was win the election, but I think it was get
the nomination).

Now, please don't get mad that you think I'm calling you a sellout either
politically or technologically.  While I'm personally a FOSS advocate, I
don't think there's necessarily any reason a Linux user has to be a FOSS
advocate...they could just be an advocate for using the best tool available,
whether it doesn't cost a dime or it costs $10,000...and they might not even
think Linux is the best tool available, but be forced to use it for work
purposes.  There's certainly going to be a bias toward Linux is the best and
open is the best here, but I things it's probably wrong to assume that
everyone on the list or showing up at the meetings also feels that way.