What I think about at the beginning of watching Revolution OS is that this has all been going on while I have been around. I have been around computer for what seems all of my life, my father and brother both programmed in Basic. We had our TSR-80 and the little gadgets they could assemble at the time I had no idea what I was looking at was the future. As they would make games and simple programs I became hooked on technology. As I graduated from high school I remember Windows and Apple competing to corner the market, so much has changed from now to then. Watching 3.1, then 95 and Microsoft slowly taking over, all along free software a whole other world was growing and being developed and I had no idea. I had never even heard of Linux. Not until about 1998 but even then it was just a curious word I was starting to hear more and more, continuing to fan my technological curiosity.
While listing to and learning about some of the different creators and contributors to the evolution of Linux, Richard Stallman really inspired the freedom fighter in me. Listening to his thoughts on Freedom, Liberty and his thoughts on how information and software should be shared has inspired me to adjust my thoughts on what types of software I work with and support. The most important part of his story I feel is that, he saw a need and took action rather than waiting, along with Linus Torvalds a very soft spoken man who created the original kernel the seed that would grow into all that Linux is now. What I notice is that there seems to still be a struggle to put a name to exactly what it is Linux, GNU/Linux. I hear R. Stallman adamantly requesting a part in the name, though I don’t see Linus accepting the request.
Past the naming struggle I realize the potential of opening the resources and interaction of the world populous when it comes to information, creativity, knowledge, advancement and much more. That we can share software and contribute to creativity while retaining ownership and profit from our creations. Thankfully by the forward thinking of practical licensing and ownership and distribution guidelines along with an open source definition of standards I feel can almost exclude greed in connection with software development and distribution.
Now that Linux has grown to become the true David to the Microsoft Goliath the business aspects of the open source potential has been realized by the Leading DB providers as well as the Fortune 500’s; Microsoft will and has taken note. Open Source Technology and Internet functionality has been fully integrated with open arms and Linux has provided true Enterprise Services to match and surpass existing bloated and expensive services. I believe Linux and R. Stallman’s philosophies on world information sharing will continue to influence and mold our entire world. How we integrate our lives with technology, friends and our day to day events one app at a time. Share the knowledge and the software; share the wealth of the world.
