> http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cmp/20030619/tc_cmp/10700411 > > Enderle has impressed me (slightly) over the years as being not the least > clueful of analysts (he says, perhaps damning with faint praise). > > While I don't agree with his conclusion (or my email address would be > different!), a lot of what he says bears consideration.
His main thrust in that article is not against Linux (which he admits is a solid and competent product) but against the "religious" attitude of one specific individual - his opponent in the failed debate - and what he perceives the Linux community in general to be. This is always going to be the case. Linux is a public effort with no entry exam - the fringe crowd who inhabited comp.os.os2.advocacy and its analogues are going to be around for ever, they're going to be here, and their noise will be significant. There are many others involved - with their heads down at desks, or working for organisations (most serious corporate suppliers) who simply don't pemit their people to make noises in public. We shouldn't let the presence of the former group fool us into thinking that the latter group doesn't exist. Never forget (or even underestimate) the quiet people. As an aside - I was working late one evening back in the mid-1970s at the Bank of England. One guy was called home by a phone call. When he came back, he told us a story. His wife was a nurse(?) and was also working - so they had a teenager from the neighbourhood babysitting. A burglar broke into the house and went into the room where the babysitter was watching television with a labrador at her feet. To quote him: "The damn labrador made so much racket that the burglar didn't hear the Rottweiler behind him." The police arrived to find the Rottweiler standing over the burglar, growing every time he took a breath. They said: "OK - send for the owner and make a couple of cups of tea." The dog stayed where it was until called off. Moral of the story - ignore the wailing and gnashing of teeth - look underneath for the true movement. Sometimes we get obsessed by the fact that Linux is "free" and forget that it's also multi-platform, etc. -- Phil Payne http://www.isham-research.com +44 7785 302 803
