Community Vs. Corporate Linux

There is, in fact, a coming divide that will hit the Linux community like a freight train. The battle lines have already been drawn, and companies that support Linux, such as Canonical, will eventually find themselves fiercely pitted against companies like Linspire, that, only a short time ago, entered into an agreement of cooperation.

A clash between the different versions of the GPL have already begun to show their roots , and luckily, thus far, has been pretty much transparent. What I want to know is how all of this is going to go down when it comes time for the enforcement of such things.

GPLv3 Enforcement: This Could Become a Bumpy Road. For Linux enthusiasts, the rules are simple and clear to interpret. But for Microsoft and its Linux partners, we will see plenty of them pointing to self-created loopholes, which will result in fierce debate, and perhaps even worse, blatant defiance.

As a collective community, we’d like to think that this whole issue will just blow over, but with the massive migration of so many Windows users and companies that wish to capitalize on this migration, defiance of the GPL will happen and more so than ever before.

The two companies that I have concerns about include both Novell and Linspire. I would point out that I have no problem with either company. As a matter of fact, I have been fan of much of its efforts within the Linux world in the past. However, they will face challenges once they are caught in the middle of much of the Microsoft GPL feud and will likely pay a serious financial price.

Working Together As a Community to Leave Behind Microsoft Media Formats. Our best collective course of action is to practice what we preach. This means that we use Flash as the go-between with media that is not ripped in .OGG or Theora. And once and for all, cease the use of products like the iPod. If the media device will not support us, then we will no longer support it.

I fully realize this sounds like an extremist approach, but with the patent issues flying back and forth, it might not be a bad idea to further embrace the Open Source media alternatives with a little more zest.

Separating the Weak From the Strong. Regardless of your opinion of how this is going to go down, whether or not we’ll see the Linux community split, the fact is that these powerful events happening with Microsoft, Novell, and Linspire have already gestured many of us.

No matter how hard we try to downplay it, the patent threats and deals that are being made because of them are hurting the community - it’s a simple fact. The real trick will be to see who sticks this out and who falls back to closed source alternatives, as we see Linux getting split with IP politics.

This article has been republished with the kind permission of our friends at Mad Penguin. For more news about the Open Source community, go give ‘em a look or Subscribe to Mad Penguin’s RSS Feed!

Related Articles @ Mad Penguin:

• Microsoft vs. The Linux World
• Google Desktop for Linux: Why Do We Need It?
• Zero Configuration Computing: A Reality in Linux
• Microsoft Distributes Ubuntu: Shock!
• Patent Deals With Microsoft Mean Death To Linux?

[tags]linux community, corporate linux[/tags]