Open Source's Totally Non-Secret Weapon: Staying Relevant
upstart writes:
Open source's totally non-secret weapon: Staying relevant:
Opinion Last week, one fundamental problem for IT cropped up in three very different stories. One story was Google's parent Alphabet doing an internal audit of all its products on the back of falling profits. One was a highly critical look at Meta's efforts to put business into VR. And one was Linus Torvalds getting cranky that the i486 architecture was still in Linux's first-class lounge when it should be packed off to the Old Codes' Home.
Meta and others are pitchforking hundreds of billions into a virtual bonfire of insanity, egged on by big-name analysts making risible predictions about trillion-dollar markets. That looks like a different universe to decisions about free software for a 30-year-old processor with zero modern relevance. Likewise, Google's habit of making things that nobody wants and breaking things that people do want, conversely, is a very Google thing.
All three are different ways of describing the same universal problems that all organizations face: resource allocation and opportunity cost. Meta is going hell for leather for one big idea that is delusional nonsense. Google's strategy of letting a thousand flowers bloom is a recipe for a backyard filled with weeds. Both these things are illnesses of the rich; you have the luxury of doing things badly for a long time if the cash keeps flowing.
Linux, on the other hand, is anything but rich. Its ecosystem of reward is enlightened self-interest, people and organizations that commit time and minds. They understand the importance of making things that matter and are very motivated to be a part of that. These resources are limited. Time spent developing, maintaining and testing for a processor that nobody uses is time not spent on current needs. Relevance has to be part of the reward; declaring something irrelevant is part of resource management. This balancing act has to work.
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