Is a Linux Civil War in the Making?

Microsoft's partnership with Novell got a lot of people in the open-source community fired up. Since then, Microsoft's Linux deals with Linspire and Xandros have just thrown gasoline on the fire. Now, it appears that Red Hat, the leading Linux company and the most vocal opponent to Microsoft wheeling and dealing, tried to make its own deal with Microsoft before the Novell one was released.

So, what's going on here? As Kevin Carmony, Linspire's CEO and president, rhetorically asks in his latest public column, "Is Linux Splitting into Two Factions?"

Carmony says: "Saying that Linux is going to be torn in two makes for good press and lively debates, but this is certainly nothing new for Linux. There are far more material splits today in the Linux world, such as Debian vs. RPM, KDE vs. GNOME, Distro A vs. Distro B, and so on. These divisions are quite material, and dilute significant energy and efforts across competing standards. However, we accept this as the price we pay for freedom of choice."

I see the current uproar between those who partner with Microsoft--Novell, Linspire and Xandros--and those that swear off Microsoft partnerships—Ubuntu and Mandriva—as being just another variation on the theme of open-source pragmatism versus free software idealism.

On the one side, you have those who believe in open source as the best possible way of writing code. For them, open source is just the most practical way to create the best programs. If hardware companies—like graphic card vendors ATI and NVIDIA refusing to open up their devices enough to create true open-source drivers--won't cooperate, you find other ways to make their hardware work. Companies that buy into this approach are far more likely to play "Let's Make a Deal" with Microsoft.


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Vaughan-Nichols
Is a Linux Civil War in the Making?
By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
June 28, 2007

Opinion: Is Microsoft just selling the ammo? Or, is Microsoft fighting the wrong war with the wrong weapons?


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Microsoft's partnership with Novell got a lot of people in the open-source community fired up. Since then, Microsoft's Linux deals with Linspire and Xandros have just thrown gasoline on the fire. Now, it appears that Red Hat, the leading Linux company and the most vocal opponent to Microsoft wheeling and dealing, tried to make its own deal with Microsoft before the Novell one was released.
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So, what's going on here? As Kevin Carmony, Linspire's CEO and president, rhetorically asks in his latest public column, "Is Linux Splitting into Two Factions?"

Carmony says: "Saying that Linux is going to be torn in two makes for good press and lively debates, but this is certainly nothing new for Linux. There are far more material splits today in the Linux world, such as Debian vs. RPM, KDE vs. GNOME, Distro A vs. Distro B, and so on. These divisions are quite material, and dilute significant energy and efforts across competing standards. However, we accept this as the price we pay for freedom of choice."

I see the current uproar between those who partner with Microsoft--Novell, Linspire and Xandros--and those that swear off Microsoft partnerships—Ubuntu and Mandriva—as being just another variation on the theme of open-source pragmatism versus free software idealism.

On the one side, you have those who believe in open source as the best possible way of writing code. For them, open source is just the most practical way to create the best programs. If hardware companies—like graphic card vendors ATI and NVIDIA refusing to open up their devices enough to create true open-source drivers--won't cooperate, you find other ways to make their hardware work. Companies that buy into this approach are far more likely to play "Let's Make a Deal" with Microsoft.

eWEEK.com Special Report: Enterprise Wars: Linux vs. Windows

On the other side, you have those that believe that for free software to really work in the long run there must be no compromises with the forces of proprietary software and hardware. For them, working with a Microsoft is out of the question. The perfect example of a group on this side is the Free Software Foundation with the GPLv3 license, which will be released on June 29.

The real world though isn't black and white. Open source versus free software, Microsoft Linux partners vs. non-Microsoft Linux partners, is a spectrum, not an either/or choice.

Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, for example, has stated that he's not about to make a patent deal with Microsoft. He hasn't, however, ruled out making other kinds of partnerships with Microsoft. Novell, on the other hand, Microsoft patent deal and all, has said time and again that it doesn't agree with Microsoft's nonsense that having a patent agreement means agreeing that Microsoft patents have anything to do with Linux.
Source : http://www.eweek.com