I've seen two news items that seem to me to be defining moments in the open-source software industry. First, Microsoft is apparently contibuting to the Linux kernal, obviously therefore conforming with the GPL. Everyone loves the irony, but my only thought is that it signals Microsoft's undeniable adaptability. They may suck at the internet, but they're still kings in the world of actual, meaningful giant software projects (hey, even kings can sometimes still make dogs like Vista, but they've made plenty of products I definitely respect, most notably SQL Server and the .NET framework). The other item that I thought was mildly interesting was that Red Hat, the biggest Linux distribution company out there, has now been added to the S&P500. I wish I hadn't sold my stock.
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