Linux Foundation eunt domus!

Linux Foundation Fail

Article from Issue 195/2017
Author(s):

We're gonna need a bigger bazaar.

Hell has frozen over, the Eagles have re-formed, and Microsoft has joined the Linux Foundation. We must conclude that the Linux Foundation has zero credibility, so now is the time for the Free Software Foundation (FSF) to step up and provide not just the moral leadership for Free Software, but some sort of authentic advocacy.

Ha! Had you going for a bit there, didn't I? While the Linux Foundation is sullied beyond redemption, the FSF cannot become the campaigning, pro-Linux, pro-business voice while it prizes ideological purity above all else. To be clear, the FSF is magnetic north in terms of purity. It's immovable and incorruptible, and when it speaks, we should listen; however, it doesn't do a good job of promoting Free Software. We need a compass to point the way, and that cannot any longer be the Linux Foundation.

So in the spirit of the splitter, I propose a new organization: the People's Popular Front of Linux (PPFL). This organization would campaign tirelessly to raise public awareness of Linux on the desktop, on the smartphone, and on the server. It would be ready with a handy quote for journalists whenever there's a story about "Computer Viruses," informing the public that it's actually Microsoft that's at fault rather than computers in general. It would be there to provide insight the next time closed-source code is implicated in a car emissions cheating scandal, or in a hacking incident, or when someone's closed-source insulin pump goes wrong because of a hard-coded error and the license makes it illegal for anyone other than the vendor to fix it.

[...]

Use Express-Checkout link below to read the full article (PDF).

Buy this article as PDF

Express-Checkout as PDF
Price $2.95
(incl. VAT)

Buy Linux Magazine

SINGLE ISSUES
 
SUBSCRIPTIONS
 
TABLET & SMARTPHONE APPS
Get it on Google Play

US / Canada

Get it on Google Play

UK / Australia

Related content

comments powered by Disqus
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters

Support Our Work

Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

Learn More

News