Eric Raymond calls for compromise...
By Gavin Clarke in San Francisco
Published Thursday 17th August 2006 08:38 GMT
Eric Raymond, one of the high priests of open source, has told the
community that painful compromises are needed to the way it deals with
closed source platforms and formats to avoid losing ground on desktops
and new media players.
Raymond said the community is not moving fast enough to engage with
non-technical users whose first-choice platform is either an iPod, MP3
player or Microsoft desktop running Windows Media Player.
With iPod holding a massive market share and Windows Vista coming down
the pipe, Raymond warned that Linux risks getting locked out of new
hardware platforms for the next 30 years unless it proves it can work
with iPods, MP3s and WMP.
It was an unexpected reality check from the unorthodox Raymond, author
of the famed Cathedral and the Bazaar, participating in a spirited
panel at LinuxWorld in San Francisco, California.
Joining Raymond were Linux International executive director Jon
"maddog" Hall, Google open source program manger Chris DiBona, Intel
director of Linux and open source strategy Dirk Hohndel, and moderator
Larry Augustin.
Raymond apparently isolated himself on the issue of using binary
drivers in Linux - a hotly contested issue in the open source movement.
Binary drivers are platform, format and hardware specific and can make
applications like multimedia run smoothly on a PC or device.
Raymond called binary drivers an evil for open source, but because of
their proprietary nature, "a necessary compromise".
Raymond, a champion of all things open, said it is vital to the future
uptake of Linux that the community compromise to win the new generation
of non-technical users aged younger than 30. This group is more
interested in having Linux "just work" on their iPod or MP3 player and
"don't care about our notions of doctrinal purity",
"We have a serious problem. Whenever I try to pitch Linux to anyone
under 30, the question I get is: 'Will it work with my iPod?," he said.
"We are not yet as a community making the painful compromises need to
achieve widespread desktop market share. Until we do, we will get
locked out of more hardware."
Raymond is concerned the window of opportunity is closing for Linux on
the desktop. He calculates the end of the transition to 64-bit
computing by the close of 2008. According to his studies, the best
opportunity to displace the dominant operating system (in this case
Windows on the desktop) takes place with a major architectural shift
like this.
Raymond believes Linux will get locked out for 30-odd years until the
next platform shift as it's so far not doing enough to reach out to
non-technical users.
"The end of the 64-bit transition happens at the end of 2008. After
that the operating system gets locked in for the next 30 years. I'm
worried we are not doing enough to appeal to non-technical users. I'm
worried we will be locked out of the desktop for a very long time," he
said.
Fellow panelist Hohndel took a more optimistic view. He estimated that
while Linux would see single-digit desktop market share in economies of
North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, Linux would get 20 per cent of
the market in emerging markets during the next five-years.
Maddog Hall, meanwhile, urged LinuxWorld attendees to evangelize Linux
at schools, universities and their community organizations, and ensure
Linux is taught in academic curriculums. ®
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/17/eric_raymond_linux_compromise/
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