Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Creeping Threat
Author: Brett Glass Posted: 8/24/2000; 9:43:25 PM Topic: Next survey: Are you an open source developer? Msg #: 20155 (In response to 20147) Prev/Next: 20154 / 20156
Maybe in time, these products would threaten the established leaders? I doubt it...The same was said of GCC, which has driven most of the commercial compiler vendors to extinction. It takes time before the GPLed product becomes good enough, but it's a creeping threat that eventually kills the market.
As for Sun "embracing" GNOME: This is an example of the same short-sighted behavior exhibited by developers who contribute to GPLed projects. Sun sees this as an attempt to jump on a bandwagon and gain publicity. But they haven't stopped to count the long term cost of clasping the serpent to their breast. If they continue to embrace the GPL, they will hurt themselves terribly in the long run. It happened with GCC, it's happening with Linux (BeOS, trapped between Microsoft on one hand and Linux on the other, stands not a chance), and it will happen in every market which is invaded by the GPL.
--Brett Glass
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