On Thu, 4 Dec 2003, mayur m wrote:
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- There are so many versions of linux so how do the
common people come to know what is best for them.
Try www.distrowatch.com
2)in linux community is there someone controls the development and expansion of the open source free
fragmentation of linux like it happened in the past with Unix.
The 'Linux Standards Base' by www.freestandards.org aims to do that.
Secondly why is there no democratic body at the core which oversees development of software in open source arena
Generally open source software is a meritocracy - you get more votes or more influence on one particular project by contributing more/better to the project. It seems fair to me that Linus Torvalds has much more influence in the future direction of Linux than I have.
3)The companies supporting free software&open source are supporting with what motives is quite questionable. .Is it to bring down a monopoly or make their own
Theoretically, you cannot have a monopoly with open source since the source code will always be available to stop this. IBM and Novell know that a portion of a large pie is better than most of a tiny crumb. So they are both working aggresively to increase the size of the pie (open source).
4)After the SCO case I think developers who develop open source software and especially linux must come together ,sit and decide that further such an event does not happen.(it may not affect linux and open source community but it does drive out companies who are ready to embrace linux by bringing suspicion in their minds.)
An increased awareness of copyright law, patent law, fair use etc. is necessary for all software developers, both open source and proprietary. Hopefully this will be a positive outcome of SCO.
- Why is everyone trying to make a new package
(distribution)
Diversity vs duplication of effort - you could argue both ways. A Linux distribution is unlike a traditional engineering project - it's easy to create a new one, a few days' work, and a huge financial burden to keep it alive. So, many people start distros then they slowly die unless they can reach a critical mass.
Yours faithfully; Mayur (Opensourcelover@yahoo.com)
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Regards Imran William Smith Malaysia