Linux is free. It does pretty much everything Windows does. So why hasn’t Linux taken over as the most popular desktop OS? Open Source Learning’s Jan Stedehouder answers that it’s a combination of factors but mostly inertia and politics.
This analysis is pretty straightforward; the new idea is to explicitly create an international working group with the goal of Linux proliferation. I happen to think that the consumer market is not the best solution for every problem. This is a case where it has really failed to pick the optimal solution and therefore intervention is a good idea.
On the other hand, open source software development is really a peculiar form of activism; in addition to those who identify as “freedom fighters”, it appeals to apolitical engineers and political bystanders who just want to see the best tools made available. Will their commitment to these tools extend into the explicitly political sphere?