Open Source Pragmatism...


First off, to my few readers, I didn't die... :) I had a very interesting couple of weeks, plus a vacation. The short version of my interesting weeks is that I've left Motorola and taken a job as an Open Source Community Manager at CollabNet, where I'll be working to help build the communities of CollabNet's current and future customers interested in Open Source development practices. When and if I end up doing a corporate blog, I'll post the link here.

Now, on to today's topic - Open Source Pragmatism. I was having a conversation with some new colleagues, and I mentioned that I sometimes get a hard time from hard line Open Source folks about my use of a Macbook Pro. I look at software very pragmatically, and quite frankly, while Ubuntu has done a great job of getting the Linux Desktop to where it is, it still cannot compare (for my needs as a consumer) with OS X. Now, that doesn't mean I don't believe that Open Source (and Linux) have made great strides on the server side, and even in embedded.

I do strongly believe that more folks need to take a pragmatic view of Open Source in general, and understand how to get customers to use software (i.e. - meet their needs) instead of playing the religious card (yes, that means you Mr. Stallman).

Open Source needs to realize it has to start approaching things from a pragmatic, as well as a passionate point of view. Doing this will ensure that more folks see the advantages of using Open Source where it makes sense and meets their needs.

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