A lot of people I know are your archetypal Slashdot posting, Microsoft hating "Linux" users. Then I also know some practical, reasonable open source supporters who use Linux - like my friend Mike. He's able to see through all the hype and BS and slashdot flaming to make very cogent points about the pros and cons of open source and Linux in particular.
I found some interesting tidbits today regarding Linux and the Open Source movement that I thought I should post before they're skewed out of context by the first type of person I described:
The first is the discovery of a "major" security flaw in the 2.4 Linux Kernel -"The flaw allows users on a Linux machine to gain unlimited access privileges, according to a security advisory posted by developers of the noncommercial Debian Linux distribution." Ouch. More here...
The second is a comment by co-founder of Sun Microsystems, Bill Joy when asked what his thoughts on Open Source are:
"Open source is fine, but it doesn't take a worldwide community to create a great operating system. Look at Ken Thompson creating Unix, Stephen Wolfram writing Mathematica in a summer, James Gosling in his office making Java. Now, there's nothing wrong with letting other people help, but open source doesn't assist the initial creative act. What we need now are great things. I don't need to see the source code. I just want a system that works."
I couldn't agree more. I don't claim to know much at all about Open Source and Linux but from what I've read, I tend to lean toward Mr. Joy's way of thinking.
Some interesting tidbits to ponder...at least for me anyway.