Hello, I'm doing a project on the history of Linux/open source for school and have a few questions(basically a survey) about Linux/open source that I'd like to have your opinions on.

1. What events do you think have been more important in the success of Linux?

2. Do you think that Richard Stallman's image of sort of an anti-capitalist hippy(I don't necessarily agree with that image but you get my point) has hurt the adoption and success of open source?

3. Do you agree or disagree with Linus Torvalds remarks about him being the engineer and Stallman being the great philosopher?

4. Do you feel that another kernel would have come along and taken the place of Linux in completing the GNU system if Linux wasn't written or came about later?

5. What do you think has made Linux as successful and popular as it is compared to HURD, or some of the BSD's?

6. Who do you feel is the real leader of the open source movement - Linus, Stallman, someone else?

7. In the early days of Linux(91-00), what do you think held Linux back the most?

8. If you could change any historical events regarding open source to make open source more prevalent today, what would you change?

9. What do you think has been the single most important event as far as getting to be adopted by more businesses?

10. Do you think that the GNU GPL has hurt or helped open source overall?

Thanks for your time and your opinions.

I am not sure about helping with your homework, but...

I don't think the problem is RMS. I think the problem is the capitalist attitude that you get what you pay for, and therefore Linux must be Crap because it is free. This is the prevailing attitude amongst businesses, who don't know any different.

To a point. Didn't RMS write Emacs ?

GNU/Hurd has been in development for longer that Linux, and is still not useable in a production environment. I think Linux came along at just the right time.

Timing.

Poor user interface. When I first came across Linux (last century I think ) Gnome and KDE were really bad. Windows was a much better alternative from a useability point of view.

Also, the fact that most computers are sold with Windows preinstalled. Here in Australia, the one of the most visited sites is ninemsn, which is set as the default home page on Internet Explorer. Many people just don't know any different (Hey, I can change my homepage to what I want !! )

I think it has helped, although some of the popular opensource projects are not GPL (Firefox, OpenOffice...)


--Ian

Go buy a book kid. Heaps of books on this topic so you can answer your own questions and form your own opinions. I'm assuming the project is asking for your input, not the input of others?

Actually the project is asking for the opinions of others, in the form of interviews or surveys. I've read a few books (The Cathedral and the Bazaar, Just for Fun) and watched a documentary(Revolution OS) on this, so right now I'm wanting to get the opinions of regular people in the community. I have my own opinions on most of the questions I asked, so I'm wanting to see how/if my opininos relfect everyone elses.

1. What events do you think have been more important in the success of Linux?

The creation of GCC and the GPL back in the 80's. Hard for our favorite kernel to exist and become widespread without those two.

2. Do you think that Richard Stallman's image of sort of an anti-capitalist hippy(I don't necessarily agree with that image but you get my point) has hurt the adoption and success of open source?

It most likely has hurt somewhat, but folks like ESR are there to appeal to business people.

3. Do you agree or disagree with Linus Torvalds remarks about him being the engineer and Stallman being the great philosopher?

I agree, because as far as the kernel goes Linus is the main engineer. But Stallman made GCC, without which I would not be typing this sentence. Both are engineers and philosophers, to some degree.

4. Do you feel that another kernel would have come along and taken the place of Linux in completing the GNU system if Linux wasn't written or came about later?

Absolutely. If the HURD or the BSD kernels had been available, why would anyone have bothered?

5. What do you think has made Linux as successful and popular as it is compared to HURD, or some of the BSD's?

Still waiting for HURD. Some promising features, but nothing to switch for. BSD was in legal trouble with AT&T at the time Linux came out, so timing was what got Linux to be adopted widely.

6. Who do you feel is the real leader of the open source movement - Linus, Stallman, someone else?

There is no single leader of the open source movement.

7. In the early days of Linux(91-00), what do you think held Linux back the most?

Heh. Funny to call the late nineties the "early days". Has it been so long? Makes me feel old, and I'm only a teenager. Anyway, hardware support has always been (and will continue to be for some time) the main issue. My winmodem didn't work back then, so I had to use a Windows 98 box for Net usage and put Linux on my Pentium 133. These days people have problems with other hardware, though thankfully everything I've got is fine. Thanks to ndiswrapper.

8. If you could change any historical events regarding open source to make open source more prevalent today, what would you change?

Changing history is a bad idea, cause you can never be sure what will happen. Don't you read any SciFi? What kind of geek are you, anyway?

9. What do you think has been the single most important event as far as getting to be adopted by more businesses?

Firefox? OpenOffice? Both were huge developments. Remember having to use Netscape and Applix or StarOffice? Bad times man, bad times.

10. Do you think that the GNU GPL has hurt or helped open source overall?

Where would we be without the GPL? I remember reading that license for the first time when I was 12 or so. Came with a copy of GNU Chess that I got on an Aztec Game Pyramid, a collection of freeware/shareware and game demos for Windows on CD. That was the whole reason I got interested in Linux. Knew source code was useless for me, as a non-programmer, but I also knew what real geeks could do with that kind of access and learning examples. So my response is that the GPL has been a massive help.

Thanks for your time and your opinions.

Can't believe I typed so damn much.

Edited to fix grammer errors.