Interview in Builder Magazine
ZDNet is reprinting an interview I did with Brendon Chase for Builder magazine. I'm pretty happy with how it came out:
Microsoft are now shipping GPLed software! That’s a little amusing after all the nasty things they've said about the GNU GPL, but it's basically a good thing. Just about all technology companies are now working in open source to at least a small degree. This is a remarkable change from just five years ago, when most people were very skeptical that it would ever take off. Seeing Microsoft ship open source software is a bit like seeing the Berlin Wall fall. After so many years of denial and propaganda, they're finally saying (very quietly) “you know, a bit of freedom can be good”.
What advice would you give to other developers who want to get involved in open source software?
MP: A good way to start is to report or try to fix bugs that you find when you're using free software. You can learn a bit about how the software works and how the community works, and you might even get your bug fixed. Free software maintainers will often be very happy to hear problem reports, if you include useful information and do it politely.
That page come up with a Microsoft ad saying that Windows is 11%-22% cheaper than Linux. 11%, eh? Not "10%", or "about 10%", but exactly 11%. That's a pretty precise number. It's almost like they just made it up or something.
posted Tue 30 Mar 2004 in /personal | link
Archives 2008: Apr Feb 2007: Jul May Feb Jan 2006: Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Jun Jan 2005: Sep Aug Jul Jun May Apr Mar Feb Jan 2004: Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Jun May Apr Mar Feb Jan 2003: Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Jun May
Copyright (C) 1999-2007 Martin Pool.