If open source were a religion, Linus Torvalds, the Finnish engineer who wrote the core of the operating system that would become Linux, would be its prophet. In 1991, Mr Torvalds created the kernel, or core software, that would eventually be adopted by millions of computer users and lay the foundation for a vibrant open-source community. In an email interview with Red Herring, Mr Torvalds says the increasing focus of venture capitalists and large companies on open source can only be good for a community that, until now, was on the fringes of the commercial realm.
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Member since:2005-07-24
"""Actually, with so many followers it's more like a religion."""
I agree that it is truly a religion to some. However, as a descriptive term, I would be inclined to give it "cult" status.
If you count all the people involved in open source, there are a lot. However, most of those people have not adopted it as their religion. If you restrict membership to those free software fundamentalists who *have* adopted it as their religion, the numbers are, surely, much smaller. In the cult range, I'd say.
As would be expected, that subset is more vocal than the average, but still a fairly small number.
Edited 2006-08-20 21:18
Member since:2005-09-11
Well, for one thing it is just a metaphor. I don't think anyone is really saying its a religion. yet. It could become a societal moral framework, I suppose.
The actual contributors are like the priests (maybe linus is like the pope). The users are like the churchgoers. By this you have a huge quantity of people, definitely a religion rather than a cult.
When you count a religion's patronage you don't just count its funamentalists.
Member since:2005-12-09
Well, almost. In actuality, a religion has the added burden of answering and/or assuaging the fundamental quandries of life: its purpose and destiny among others. While open source is a hard-fought development tactic and a respected mode of operation, it's no more a religion than the "lather, rinse, repeat" advise on shampoo bottles. You can say its devotees are "cultish" in their faithfulness, but they fall short of believing (I very well hope) that open source is (or will divulge) the meaning of life.
Member since:
2005-09-11
Actually, with so many followers it's more like a religion. A cult is just a small, recently formed religion. Opensource began well before Torvalds, infact proprietary software is the newcomer. I'd say Torvalds is an important disciple. Then again, since there is no specific person to assign to prophethood, might as well give him that.