"The transformation of the Linux Foundation from a rather sleepy, peripheral player into one of the main voices for open source has been fascinating to watch. It's certainly welcome, too, because one of the problems of Linux in particular, and open source in general, is that the distributed production has tended to lead to dissipation in terms of getting the message across.

"Now, in addition to a useful series of interviews with open source luminaires, the Linux Foundation is getting into surveys..."

"In my previous post about last week's Microsoft Technology Summit, I talked a little bit about the structure of the event and the overtures that Microsoft seems to be making towards the Open Source community. Some of my esteemed industry colleagues feel that Microsoft is never to be trusted, that they are a snake in the grass and a dangerous aggressor, and they are out to crush anyone who opposes them at any cost.

"Well, okay, I can appreciate the position of conventional Open Source ideologues on Microsoft as much as anyone else..."

"It is interesting to read RedmondDeveloper News's take on Oracle's attitude to open source this morning, especially this paragraph quoting Monica Kumar, Oracle's senior director for Linux and open source product marketing:

"''We haven't seen our customers asking for open source databases,' she told me. 'Not many customers are interested in looking into the code and mucking around with it, and making changes to it. All they care about is 'give me the best support, give me the lowest price of entry'.' For that Kumar pointed to Oracle Express...'"

"Ever since I wrote 'It's Time to Get Over Microsoft,' people have demanded in blogs and emails how I could ignore the obvious threat that Microsoft represents to free software. Usually, I ask them to read the article more carefully, and note that it suggests that free software has grown strong enough to take care of itself. The fact that so many free software supporters persist in a negative identity--that is, one defined by not being a Microsoft user--frankly puzzles me when the community has so much to be proud of in its own right.

"As a citizen of Canada, a country whose national identity is too often defined in terms of anti-Americanism, I'm all too familiar with the limitations of a negative identity. Admittedly, Microsoft bashers, just like Canadians who are