Journal Trolling4Dollars's Journal: Rob Enderly is the Bill O'Reilly of the IT press 4
I read Rob Enderle's slash and burn piece on "Linux Zealots" today and posted this response:
It doesn't matter what side you are on. When there are opposing views, the people on both sides will resort to true zealotry while at the same time accusing others of zealotry when they are simply advocating. In reality, one side's "advocate" is another side's "zealot". It could be argued that Enderle, himself, is a zealot for the Windows camp.
The real issues:
1. Microsoft exists solely for profit. Their technology is mostly bits and pieces bought from other companies and integrated into their prodcuts. We all know how DOS came about and that's pretty much been Microsoft's approach from day one. Microsoft is a business.
2. Linux exists as a labor of love for some people. Think about it. Why are all of these developers spending their time hacking the kernel, the drivers, and the applications that make up a typical GNU/Linux distribution? Some of them do it because they get paid, so there is some profit motive. But by and large, it's soley because these folks love computers and love to code. Linux is not a business (even though there are businesses based on it).
In our capitalist society, the only reason for being for many people is to make money. Since a lot of people (people who would support Microsoft or SCO for example) have accepted that as the way to "make it" in our society they feel threatened when there is something that they can't easily capitalize. It makes them feel threatened and they begin to find ways to try and attack it in the hopes that it will either fail or that it will change and fall into line with their view of the world.
As the subject line states, everyone has an agenda. My agenda is a personal one. I may be rare, but I don't think I'm that rare. I see coding and working with Linux at home as no different than the man who has a wood shop and makes his own furniture with no intention of making a profit from it. It's done for the love of a craft. And it's also done for convenience and possibly frugality. With all the things my computers at home do for me (Nearly 100% Linux based), I would have had to spend tens of thousands of dollars on commercial software. The only thing I've had to spend on my systems currently is my time. And considering that I love working with computers, it was more of a pleasure than a burden.
Enderle has an agenda too. It's fairly clear from his articles that he despises Linux. I can't speak for the man's personal interests, but I would also guess he's one of the folks who believes in capitalism lock, stock and barrel. He makes some very strong statements about Linux based on his interactions with a small, vocal segment of the Linux community. He said this himself in the article. His agenda is clearly in support of Microsoft. And what he does say about Linux tends to be very negative. From the perspective of a happy Linux user, Enderle is also a zealot. Which, by his own reckoning, would also make him a terrorist. (How do you like that Enderle?) My point? Anyone who strongly and vocally supports an opposing view is going to be seen as a "zealot".
In the end it comes down to this:
One man's advocate is another man's zealot. Congrats Enderly, you just undid yourself.
Just wait till he calls you a commie (Score:1)
Just wait till he calls you a commie for thinking that the "free market" will not solve all of society's ills.
Labor of Love (Score:2)
Anyone who is working on the state of their art got there because they love their work. You simply don't get that good if you're a hack or a rip-off artist. Whether it's building bridges, writing software or designing cars, the best people love what they do.
And Richard Stallman has distinctly ideological (not idealistic) view: "I want to encourage free software to spread, replacing proprietary software that forbids cooperati [gnu.org]
More on topic... (Score:2)
His agenda is clearly in support of Microsoft. And what he does say about Linux tends to be very negative. From the perspective of a happy Linux user, Enderle is also a zealot. Which, by his own reckoning, would also make him a terrorist. (How do you like that Enderle?) My point? Anyone who strongly and vocally supports an opposing view is going to be seen as a "zealot".
Wait, let's get at exactly how he defines a zealot:
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