[vox] [fwd] The Death of Linuxworld

[Joseph Arruda]

Scot A wrote:
> Wow!
> It seems that "someone" is trying to rub Linux out.
Huh? I hope that wasn't something you derived from my post.
> I feel that the main way that Linux will survive is through
> small grass roots gatherings.
Actually, Linux will survive just fine as long as someone needs it for 
something.  The whole "scratch an itch" compulsion still applies and has 
served the development community well so far.  That works as  'grass 
roots' or as a corporate IT project - sometimes its both.
> It seems that there may be a need to simply begin to
> fund raise for Linux as is done with other organizations
> so that decent presentations on a larger scale than just
> the grass roots level can thrive.
1. The main reason why the show was so lackluster was for economic 
reasons, plain and simple; if you can't afford to show, or can't afford 
to send bodies to a show, they die.  Happens all the time.  Even the 
once oversized COMDEX, which lasted for 5-7 days in Las Vegas and took 
in 6 figures of attendees, died out after it became too unwieldy and 
overbroad.

2. "Fundraising" for Linux already happens; these days its mostly large 
IT companies that join things like the Linux Foundation, or its 
companies that use FOSS software that get VC funding.  People also do 
buy support contracts for companies like Red Hat, which means Linux 
development keeps happening that way too.

The fact is that right now the valley is hurting badly; worse than it 
likely casually appears, and OSW/NGDC/Cloud World reflects that.  There 
*are* buzzwords there, that is not new at ANY tradeshow.  That is how 
tradeshows attract people.  That is why you do not see big tradeshows on 
COBOL, Logo or MUMPS programming, the Amiga OS, or for PDP* hardware.
> My wish is that Linux becomes a complete
> and utter force to be reckoned with as an OS on a global level.
It already is.  If it wasn't there would not have been the first 
LinuxWorld to start with back in 1999.