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RE: [TCLUG:4895] Linux vs. Darwin (Mac OS-X)



> http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19990316S0024
>
> So, it's true that Apple is releasing most of the OS-X into Open-Source
> domain. Your opinion, please: Is Open-Source competition from
> Apple good for
> Linux? Or is OS-X already too late to play catch up? I'm tending to think
> that it might muddy the waters, but the more the merrier, right?
>

	I'm not sure that "Open Source" and "Competition" belong in the same
paragraph, really.

	I mean, even if you look at the bitterer battles in Linux software -- Gnome
vs. KDE, for example -- there's no reason why the two shouldn't be able to
co-exist so long as there are people who feel like working on either
project.  There's nothing in particular keeping programmers from either side
from porting software from one system to the other, or from working on ways
to make the two compatible (admittedly, I'm probably glossing over the
KDE/Qt thing considerably -- I'm not totally up on the current state of the
licence, but I don't recall anything that would make KDE-to-Gnome software
ports impossible.)
	On another front, there's the battles between distributions.  But many of
these are run by non-profit consortiums who can't exactly be bought out or
bankrupted, and even if RedHat or Caldera should go under, the work they've
contributed to Linux will still be available for further tweaking.

	I'm not sure that the pool of talent required to keep Open Source running
is anywhere close to being tapped out.  In fact, I'm hopeful that an
open-source Mac system will encourage a lot more people to become open
source developers.

	On the other hand, there are plenty of reasons to question whether Apple
really has their heart in Open Source, or if this is just Steve Jobs trying
to hitch a lift on another passing bandwagon.