Eric S. Raymond

Read this Open Letter in its original version at Eric Raymond's Web site Read a previous Open Letter from ESR published at LinuxWorld The open-source community has been hearing reports that you have recently said of Sun Microsystem's strategy "The open-source model is our friend". We're glad to hear that, and Sun's support of OpenOffice.org certainly puts some weight behind the claim. But that support is curiously inconsistent, spotty in ways which suggests that Sun is confused in the way it thinks about and executes its open-source strategy. That confusion is evident in another of your quotes. Many of us think you are right on when you say that "Sun [...] is less threatened by a zero-revenue model for software than just about anybody out there." We agree that the potent... (more)

What Does 2004 Hold in Store for Linux?

Here is the set of questions we sent out to a number of the many Linux luminaries that we know and admire. Following the questions are the responses we received from Eric Raymond and John Terpstra (of the Samba team). The questions: Which Linux application area do you believe will grow the fastest in 2004? Will 2004 *finally* be the year when Linux makes significant in-roads on the desktop... (more)

A Response to SCO's Open Letter

Mr. McBride, In your "Open Letter to the Open Source Community" your offer to negotiate with us comes at the end of a farrago of falsehoods, half-truths, evasions, slanders, and misrepresentations. You must do better than this. We will not attempt to erect a compromise with you on a foundation of dishonesty. Your statement that Eric Raymond was "contacted by the perpetrator" of the DDoS ... (more)

"Java Is Not a Bazaar" - Open Letter to Sun from Eric S. Raymond

Torvalds: "I'll Be Really Happy If Sun Ends Up Being A Good Open-Source Player" Jonathan Schwartz of Sun recently claimed that Sun's Java is developed more in the mode of the bazaar than Linux is. To quote him: "They don't get a vote, That seems awfully cathedral-like as opposed to the bazaar of the JCP." As the author of the cathedral/bazaar metaphor, I think I can address this claim wi... (more)