Despite having pockets of communities spread across the country, open source software (OSS) has no future in the country’s budding software development business, according to a software development expert.“The software development industry in the Philippines will always choose commercial applications over open source applications, unless the open source community comes around and becomes serious in turning open source software into a serious business,” said Joey Gurango, CEO of software development firm Webworks OS.
Read the report at Mq7.net.
“The software development business has strict requirements, like the capacity of the company to deliver its goods on time, the security and stability of the product, as well as compliance to software standards.”
Is it just me, or does the above epitomize Microsoft’s main weaknesses? It seems to me that security, stability, and standards compliance are three areas where open source really has the advantage over proprietary software. Then again, I’m no analyst ;-).
The facts,as presented in the article, barely rise above hearsay. Well, if there aren’t many Filipinos who are willing to develop for the FLOSS platforms, that’s one less competitor
for North American software companies to worry about as they try to go after what could be a massive Asian market, now that
China, Japan and Korea have agreed to attempt to standardize on Linux.
Is it just me, or does the above epitomize Microsoft’s main weaknesses?
Hehe, yeah. Even though stability and security is improving it still sums up windows pretty good.
Seriosly, this so-called expert doesn’t have a clue. It seems that he hasn’t investigated what the OSS has to offer.
As for not doing serious business, then what are Novell, RedHat, Lindows, Xandros etc. doing? Fooling around?
There’s a lot of weak open source software, but there’s also a lot of weak closed source software. I can’t really blame the development model for the weak software.
Just because it’s different doesn’t mean it’s bad.
Is it possible to at least not post such reports.
I suppose if I ran a ‘for profit’ software company I’d be preaching that free software had no future too. What else is he going to say, “Yes sir free software is much better than my proprietary crap!”
According to who? This whole article is a troll.
[i]Gurango’s Webworks OS develops business applications for the banking industry using Microsoft.Net. A few years ago, Gurango headed another business software development firm called Great Plains, which was later acquired by Microsoft Inc. for one billion dollars.</>
I suspect that’s one of the sources of trolls, the OSS community has been seeing lately.
Who is this company? Their web site says they live in suite 105 in Austin, Texas – no word of the Philippines. And what does RP mean?
I picked out the same paragraph. The guy totally contradicts himself, and doesn’t even know he did it. And, he got quoted in a number of publications including this one. Something is rotten in Denmark.
“Something is rotten in Denmark.” HEY I TAKE GREATE OFFENCE TO THAT *lol*
What a useless piece of nonsense! Why was this even posted!
For every quality article posted here, there are a bunch of others full of exaggeration, provocations, and vitriol.
What a waste.
RP stands for the “Republic of the Philippines”, the formal name of the nation.
“We” (I don’t know who you mean by “we”) should care about what happens in the Philippines, because the country is a strong potential competitor to the Indian IT industry. Educated Filipinos generally speak very good American English, and the schools there turn out competent graduates. IOW, the Philippines can be fertile breeding ground for OSS contributors.
One problem is the government’s inability to cultivate an IT industry. Another problem is the lackluster enforcement against software copyright infringement. It is difficult to build a software industry (free software based or not) when hardly anybody pays for software.
You don’t need quantity, just quality of news and this ain’t it.
imho this guy could have a good position in his buisiness, but a really software expert?
well, I think that he does not think really globally. In the last time I really see between the lines of this software experts fear ’cause they and their software firms could loose a lot of money ’cause of open source.
u can see it @M$ and their campaigns against OSS like Linux.
in germany (munich and berlin) they change in the offices to OSS and Linux as BS.
In the sonsumer market u also can see a really great change, e.g. ut2k4 and far cry! they can be played on Linux!!!
M$ and guys like this “software expert” fear the often better software from the OS community. I can’t believe in this words …
He sounds like someone who bit the M$ bullet and has too much invested in .NET and is worried about losing his edge.
The report is in <em>inq7.net</em> not <em>mq7.net</em>
http://www.webworksos.com/
WEBWORKS OS provides software engineering services to commercial software vendors on the Microsoft platform.
it would be bad for business (his) for this objective expert to say that OSS was a good thing
Just my two cents..
This article just shrieks of hype. It’s the kind of thing where they figure that if they simply SAY the open source has no future, then that myth spreads around and in some way becomes reality. It’s an affirmation that we must simply replace with clear vision that open source is not just a `equal` movement to proprietary software, but is philosophically purer which will always place it high above all proprietary software. In my opinion, open source is more directly aligned with the ways of the universe and as such will be an even greater success than proprietary systems.
Paul
Obviously, this guy’s a sucker for MS. And a software expert? This is actually the first time I’ve heard of him and of his company.
actually we have potential here in the philippines.
OSS is taking leaps in reaching for mainstream applause. Software development via OSS have been flourishing. Tech communities have taken interest with OSS as well as the government which rolled out their own linux distro. Our local Linux and BSD groups are also active and growing.
The “expert” clearly fears OSS or doesn’t have an idea of whats taking place
suppose if I ran a ‘for profit’ software company I’d be preaching that free software had no future too. What else is he going to say, “Yes sir free software is much better than my proprietary crap!
that’s the issue.great comment!!!
Where are all those many recent supposedly “expert” opinions and articles about the serious weaknesses of open source software really coming from…? The current development especially in Asia shows that the real trend is just the opposite.
Not that many OSS projects wouldn’t have many things to learn from their commercial software compteritors though. But it is also vice versa, in many fields OSS has already proven to be at least as good if not better.
All I have to say is what an idiot.
Is it just me or does it seem that article just says OSS is bad and ends very early. I mean that thing looks like a 4th grader wrote a report debateing that Microsft closed source is better then OSS.
Seems to me this article was written for one reason. To put bad words out on OSS.
Hey if that is all it takes to get a article published I should be a famous editor or writer. Never knew it was so easy.
open source does, in the short term. It does when you want to cut costs and layoff workers. It does when you dont want to innovate much. It does when you can close the particular source (like MIT and BSD)
Thanks
Yeah, it has no future, lets tell all the countries who already are using linux to uninstall it and buy Win2k3 servers.
OSS has its place because it you can save money and has quality enough to be used.
The said “expert” is a big .Net investor. Why should he say there is future in OSS? Just plain lazy journalism on the part of INQ7!
This guy does not represent Philippine IT. The University of the Philippines (the largest and most respected university and the country) is adopting GNU/Linux:
http://www.batasayti.freeservers.com/photo4.html
Elsewhere, LormaLINUX (http://linux.lorma.edu) is Fedora-based distribution created by Lorma Colleges in San Fernando City, La Union, Philippines.
Ironically, what it takes for OSS to gain momentum here is for software piracy crackdown to succeed. People find no incentive to check out alternatives since getting bootlegged copies of their familiar software is so easy to do. No need to seek them underground, most major malls have businesses that sell pirated CDs for $2/CD.
Eugenia,
As a moderator you’re supposed to filter garbage not propogate it by linking to it. This article is not real news and is just a poor attempt by one dillusional man to bash the OSS community.
Really, if I took a picture of my dog and posted it with the caption “review on linux,” sometimes I think OSNews would post it. This is just some guy’s opinion! “Software expert?” Based on WHAT???? The fact that we haven’t heard anything else out of RP? Let’s try to get a little more of a basis for comparison before we go publishing on one of the most widely-read sites on the internet that “OSS has no future in RP.”
If people want their opinions to be heard, they should have to work for it. A public forum should discriminate only on the basis of how informed its participants are. John Q Shopkeeper shouldn’t have the ability to roll up off his sofa and voice his uninformed opinions to a huge audience based solely on what he deems to be correct. We want to listen to the informed voice of experience and wisdom, not the ignorant voice of knee-jerk reactions and opinionated slander.
So please, to whomever reviews these articals, don’t post just anything you find on the net that might be neat. Be a little more discriminatory, as you are not just controlling the content of this site….you are controlling the media.
Ah yes, the biter bit.
What the world really needs is for the United States Federal Government to start putting pressure – heaps of pressure – on places like the RP, Taiwan, etc, for their lax enforcement of international “Intellectual Property Rights” laws.
That way, you get a massive backlash against companies that the US Feds are seen to be favoring, eg, Microsoft by lax enforcement of US anti-trust laws, etc.
And then the US wakes up and realizes it’s given the farm away, because everybody’s got down and started working hard on stuff that can’t be touched – like Linux, Mozilla, Syllable, OpenOffice.org, and so on. Much faster than “trickle down”, much more relaxed than “truckle down”, and more tasteful than “dribble down” for technology transfer.
<italic>
< hornsby>
“The software development business has strict requirements, like the capacity of the company to deliver its goods on time, the security and stability of the product, as well as compliance to software standards.”
Is it just me, or does the above epitomize Microsoft’s main weaknesses?
</hornsby>
</italic>
1) this was not a Microsoft vs. FOSS article.
2) for a _majority_ of FOSS projects, time and budget are NOT a primary concern; this is due to the fact that (like it or not, good or bad) most FOSS code is the work of volunteers (with notable exceptions on a few prominent projects). This is a VALID weakness addressed in the article.
3a) the commodity commercial market has much more in common with FOSS than either do with in-house and custom solution developement.
3b) the FOSS and commodity commercial markets may get away with schedule slips every day. This attitude does not translate to in-house and custom solution development.
3c) the commodity commercial market represents only a fraction of “closed” source projects. The microsoft staw man argument just doesn’t universally translate here.
4)
< upper managment speaking >
Say your house is burning. Do you want a volunteer fire department to respond to 911, or would you prefer paid professionals.
<</upper managment speaking >
DISCLAIMER:
Comment 4 is NOT a troll.
I personally use and GREATLY appreciate the work in dozens of FOSS projects.
This is the way UPPER MANAGEMENT (you know…the ones that ultimately sign your paycheck (unless you nobly GPL all your work)) thinks. They are not always wrong.
We in the FOSS community must develop positive answers for our weaknesses rather than crying “TROLL TROLL TROLL” every time we are criticized.
INQ7.net’s IT section is full of MS praising and Open Source controversies. They always publish OSS related news as being a big bad wolf. Obviously, they haven’t touched a lot on the government’s efforts to go open source (just a wee bit). I guess they haven’t heard the great efforts made by Lorma Linux
4)
< upper managment speaking >
Say your house is burning. Do you want a volunteer fire department to respond to 911, or would you prefer paid professionals.
<</upper managment speaking >
It would always be volanteer. Because they care about putting the fire out vs the ‘profesionals’ that are always tied up with politics and other such bul shit. Thus Managment wants to have what works best and that wil never be from the proprietory way of doing things
Guys…
I’m a filipino, forget that expert(huh?) he does not know what future means. He slaves himself in the web of MS.
I’m a filipino, and I see the future of open source in the Philippines especially to small business where budget is tough.
It’s a nice thing that i am free to think and not to be paid. GO GO OPEEEEEEN!!!!!!!!
accordingly to a very respected expert he Earth will stop rotating next week
-=Solaris.M.K.A=-: It would always be volanteer. Because they care about putting the fire out vs the ‘profesionals’ that are always tied up with politics and other such bul shit. Thus Managment wants to have what works best and that wil never be from the proprietory way of doing things
Actually REAL professionals care about making things work and are also interested in not screwing their customers over, ensuring that they make enough money that they can pay for their various materials and what not so that they can continue to be in operation tomorrow, etc…
Of course, real professionals aren’t too interested in making excuses either (unlike a lot of computer “professionals” I know).
About the Speaker
Joey Gurango started his first software company in 1987. He started and managed several software companies in the USA, Philippines, and Australia, and led dozens of software development projects and hundreds of managers, engineers, and analysts in his career. He has been involed in all sizes of projects ranging from enhancements to existing systems to large commercial software products that were installed in thousands of customer sites around the world.
His leadership in this field was tangibly recognized when global ERP vendor Great Plains Software merged with his company in 1999 to form Great Plains Philippines. After Great Plains was acquired by Microsoft in 2001, Joey was appointed Asia Pacific Regional Director for Products & Services for the company’s Business Solutions division. While a corporate executive at Great Plains and Microsoft, Joey received several awards citing excellence in technical and business leadership.
Joey retired from Microsoft in February 2003. He now spends his time investing in startup companies and mentoring technology entrepreneurs.
Well, I’m from the Philippines and I must say this is just plain BS. The students in the major universities there are taking to FLOSS like fish to water. The company I used to work in uses OSS. The companies that were our clients had no problem with using OSS.
The guy is obviously trying to sell his own product. Unfortunately, he’s singing the same tune as another Microsoft solutions provider I know in the Philippines. Their bottomline statement is that money is what drives good software development. This isn’t true. I know several software developers there who contribute regularly to OSS projects (Gerard Java’s IPTraf and Sacha Chua’s … well, multitudinous projects). There are also several startup solutions provider that create software under OSS licenses.
No, this person is obviously just spreading FUD like a good Microsoftie.
OTOH, I’m a bit pleased to find out that Great Plains was a Filipino’s project. Woohoo.
I was in Philippines some months ago and from what I’ve seen I can say that the future of all commercial softwares there is to be sold for one dollar in the city malls.
Even a lot of companies there are using commercial softwares without having paid a licence.
I am a big fan of OSS though we sometimes have to use commercial softwares because they do the job.
I only hope that OSS can find a minimum of structure to give the companies the feeling of security (I mean pereniality) they feel they have when they buy closed source software.
For all those people saying this post is a waste of time. Eugenia dont listen to them. Thanks for making me laugh.
“Say your house is burning. Do you want a volunteer fire department to respond to 911, or would you prefer paid professionals.”
I want people who can help me put the fire out. Wether they’re volunteers or paid doesn’t say anything about wether they’re professional or not.
* Some FLOSS developers are paid.
* Some FLOSS developers are professionals.
* Some proprietary developers are paid and not professionals.
Now, i don’t know any hard numbers. Do you?
“Comment 4 is NOT a troll.”
No, indeed. It is an invalid analogy which itself is flawed.
Wow, being a filipino reading the subject line for the following article makes me steam up with anger, disgust, and dissapointment at the FUD generated by this article.
First I am no expert, but then again I don’t adhere to the idea that there are such things as experts to a particular industry. Especially a man who is CEO of a software firm that is obviously biased to the .NET platform.
Second about me, I am a 21 year old UCLA undergrad who took the winter quarter off in order to work fulltime for NASA/Caltech-JPL and was very much a part of the Mars Exploration Rover project. To give people some perspective, JPL uses A LOT of open source software.
Third a disclaimer, everything I’ve said here is my own opinion and not of NASA/Caltech-JPL but I would think that if JPLers deem open source software to be capable for a flight operation, one would think(like I do) that open source software has to have a future in the Republic of the Philippines, especially in the P.I.(another obscure acronym for the Philippine Islands).
Fourth, I try not to be a zealot as I do believe there are many uses for proprietary software(yes, including software from Microsoft), but and here’s a big BUT(no pun intended), I also believe there are many uses if not more for open source software in an economically struggling country with a populace that has a lot of untapped IT talent and english speaking skills (uhm well uhm… itz parely gud inglish speeking).
Finally, as I catch my breadth. Please do not discredit the article. The man maybe an idiot, but I feel as though he is an ignorant idiot who simply does not know any better. What can the open source community do to better educate others? These are the types of question we should be asking ourselves as oppose to ignoring the problem. I have a few ideas (for one I own the domain opensourceasia.org) but I am so strapped for time (with work, school, and personal life) that I must ask others for help. I was debating about going to either Asia or Europe for a summer vacation and the case for asia (including the Philippines) is strengthened if I can figure out a concrete plan to handle such issues. Until then, today is my first day back to school after working full time for 3+ months. This “comment” has gone on for far too long.
Thank you for your time,
-Aurelio D. Tinio
I didn’t get a chance to read the comment “Information on the ‘Expert'” by pinoymcs about the speaker before the first post since I was probably still writing it.
The man’s experience is very respectable and so I retract and apologize for calling the man an idiot. However, I still consider him ignorant. C’mon Joey/Joe/Jojo(may I call you Jojo?). C’mon Jojo you have got to make a better case for your opinion and not write something that INQ7 will blindly put on their paper because you are considered an “expert” and they INQ7 needs something sensational to sell their papers. Give us more information to discuss, and not misleading FUD.
>> The software development industry in the Philippines will always choose commercial applications over open source applications
I would have thought that for an expert like Eugenia, it would set off alarm bells when someone (particularly a software development expert) uses the terms ‘commercial’ and ‘open source’ as though they were mutually exclusive.
Foreword: I tried to decypher that guy’s claims, since I noticed (quite recently, and I’m already 25) that we are/can be manipulated by language. What I try to do now is to rephrase every claim, so I know I understood it and can argument for or against it. That is the reason why I made this summary.
Abbreviations: OSS: open source software, CSS: closed source software
Summary:
1°) CSS will be chosen over OSS, because OSS is not a serious business.
2°) “OSS had little or no global business ecosystem that would make it marketable to potential foreign clients.”
I just don’t get that one.
My guess is that he says: “You can’t show OSS to complete computer morons, and tell that the R&D department has spent three years, using the finest ingeneers. Instead, you have to tell that a 16 year old took part in the project.” Again, I didn’t get it.
3°) R&D in OSS is close to 0, while it flourishes in closed-source.
4°) Potential customers know that OSS is risky.
5°) Professionals need software delivered on time, security/stability, compliance to standards.
6°) OSS can be used by the poor people, but they should know OSS has limits.
7°) Software development business in the Philippines will make more money than call center business.
In fact, that guy uses several communication traps (in my opinion):
1°) People hate to say they ignore something, so by saying “OSS is not a serious business”, or “customers know that OSS is risky” (points 1 and 4), you tell readers that if they ignore that, they are stupid (or not professionals), and since no one likes to see him/herself that way, (ignorant) people “know” that OSS is risky, no need to argument on that, right?
2°) Point 5 is quite interesting too: he doesn’t say that OSS isn’t delivered on time, has security/stability problems or doesn’t comply to standards. We just understand it that way.
3°) Point 6: do you want to claim yourself as poor ? CSS has limits too.
4°) Point 7: just like point 5, he speaks about software, not CSS nor OSS, but we still hear CSS.
Then, we can argue on the points:
1°) In our liberal world, we take for granted that the quality of a good is determined by its price (or the opposite) (points 3,6). This is wrong.
2°) There is R&D in OSS, it just benefits everyone, it is spread across different companies (point 3).
That’s all, I’m not good at arguing.
Please, someone write a better summary/argumentation than my 2 cents. Why not make it a full article on osnews even, taking all the (so-called) trolls about OSS ?
Whether you like it or not, FOSS turns out good quality software and offers a competitive advantage over the choice of closed software.
Sun and Microsoft have developed some large general reusable vendor libraries that support their product lines, but both of these companies were caught by surprise because they lost their competitive advantage and control of the research and development (which meant everything). Now the future is open, because it is not clear what form of software product will be in demand, and there is customer backlash.
Ultimately FOSS will greatly benefit those people who take advantage of it.
“Please, someone write a better summary/argumentation than my 2 cents. Why not make it a full article on osnews even, taking all the (so-called) trolls about OSS ?”
There is no point in arguing. The Guy who has done the report did not give one good explanation/reason or evidence for his claims. So really there is no point in arguing – he can believe what he wants to, an article like this is not going to change anything. Anyway it just shows that, like so many others at Microsoft, he has not understood anything about OSS, the philosophy behind it or the drive and motivation behind it (by the way, I am not claiming that i have, but then i do not write or say stupid things abot things that i do not fully understand). It is two different Paradigms that keep on colliding and anyone will find it hard to make this shift.
Sounds like this “expert” needs to be washing cars for a living. He *MIGHT* be able to handle that.
Someone clarify this for me. If I create a software program but wish to have OSS developers around the globe contribute can I still maintain control over selling the software?
It’s very clear to me that not everything in the Linux community is free. Knowing this I don’t understand why a lot of Microsoft users believe we in the Linux community use 100% free software in our homes and businesses.
Also in regards to who is creating OSS for global computer users just taking a look through the R & D programs at Freshmeat.net should open a lot of eyes. Freshmeat.net as well as SourceForge.net have not only Linux OSS but also OSX and programs for Windows users. Heck, Freshmeat.net even has a page dedicated to OSX OSS. So why is it everytime then when someone shoots his mouth off about OSS he/she refers to the Linux community? Sure the Linux community may have started the ball rolling but we aren’t the only one playing the game
OSNews is simply a linux loving, commercial OS bashing community. It’s unfair and this should not be a linux site. I feel the need to just start a website to combat this, a commercial OS site.
too manyn linux radicals here
Say your house is burning. Do you want a volunteer fire department to respond to 911, or would you prefer paid professionals.
You claim this is not a troll, but have you ever lived in a town with a volunteer fire department? I’ve lived in two. They are just as hardworking as paid fire departments, but they donate their free time into protecting your town. They take an active interest in public safety. In contrast with public fire departments, in which employees may or may not be in it just for the pay check. I’ll gladly take that volunteer fire department.
You did a great job insulting people who could save your life oneday.
Gotta love the denial…
Fact against this article – my own open source app (for scientific statistical analysis, kind of like SPSS, but [currently] much weaker [being worked on]) was launched a few years ago.
The first person to contact me about it and say thanks (and offer help!) was from the Philipines. He said it was a good thing because most universities, colleges and schools couldn’t afford to use SPSS or SAS because of the price (SPSS has to be “rented” with a license fee every year – around £10,000 per uni), and they were faced with the choice of either copying the software against license, or not using any at all.
Maybe the article should have been titles “PS has no future in RP” (PS being proprietary software).
Aside: I am not an expert on IT in the Philipines, but this shows that OSS certainly has a very strong present there.
I suspect that’s one of the sources of trolls, the OSS community has been seeing lately.
Him and someone called RMS
I think the writer makes some valid points.
OpenSource is only as technically effective as the
community that supports it.
I like open source. I use it. I write it too.
There is, however, a limit to the usefulness of
open source code when the majority of people who
use it are not really competent to make updates
or have time to do so. One tends to get a big
wish list and not much more.
Most of the software industry is about ‘geek share’.
This means who ever is paying the mortgage will get the
geeks to work for them (in the long run).
Say what you like, unless people are willing to
*BUY* licences for all that OSS and freedom software
that they use, so that the *truely* competent can
continue to update and maintain it, OSS and freedomware
will be relegated to government warehousing and not
much else in the not too distant future.
The near future looks rosy, while the fad is on.
But fads have a way of passing.
(ie: 1980s concern over environmental issues. Where
is it now? “nice S.U.V. buddy”)
M$ is going down nice and slow. And they know it. Linux and open-source software will eat them for breakfast in about 2 years. Just wait and see.
M$ is going down nice and slow. And they know it. Linux and open-source software will eat them for breakfast in about 2 years. Just wait and see.
Isn’t that what GPL Zealots have said for 5 years now without any results?
Stop trolling will ya…
“OSNews is simply a linux loving, commercial OS bashing community.”
According to such statement the “Linux loving community” here continuously bashes all the many commercial Linux distribution vendors.
FYI(, i know you’re trolling,) the GPL permits commercial redistribution.
It is however true the FSF doesn’t like the proprietary software.
Boy that 1/2 page article sure changed my opinion. The detailed arguments, persuasive arguments. A real piece of work.
Ok that was a bad article. Now look at that one at Reuters (suppose to be a better news source)… I had a heart attach reading their last comments about servers !!
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyI…
“Isn’t that what GPL Zealots have said for 5 years now without any results?”
No. Every year we get a little closer. Desktop domination begins at the corporate desktop, and according to news articles more and more companies and organization are switching to Linux.
You MS zealots on the other hand have been saying for 10 years how WinNT/2000/XP will kill Unix, but that still hasn’t happened. MacOS X Panther is userfriendlier than WinXP and OpenBSD is more secure than any Windows version.
opensource doesn’t profit.
Actually REAL professionals care about making things work and are also interested in not screwing their customers over, ensuring that they make enough money that they can pay for their various materials and what not so that they can continue to be in operation tomorrow, etc…
Hehe we have a real profesional shortige here in Ontario! Cause i’ve never seen one of the likes you have discribed. Expecialy Toronto!
To the guy who want’s to make the vendor news site to combat this site. I suggest that you take Eugenia with you. Actually I insist! Pleeeeaaassseeee!!!!
You MS zealots on the other hand have been saying for 10 years how WinNT/2000/XP will kill Unix, but that still hasn’t happened. MacOS X Panther is userfriendlier than WinXP and OpenBSD is more secure than any Windows version.
What you don’t realize is that we’re only saying Linux isn’t it, I don’t mind OSX nor OpenBSD… In fact I agree, the battle is between OSX and XP on Desktop and Linux not on the map (and not likely to be the next 5-10 years) even though BeOS or SkyOS might be runner ups….
Security is same thing, BSDs + Solaris outrun Linux all the way again…
however, if you like penguins rather than daemons, like many christians do, I guess that’s a reason to use Linux… not many other reasons I can see..
I think that people will use whatever they want and there will be a variety of platforms to choose from. Linux will one day be absorbed by open source software and people will be running unique software in which everyone has different code, and there is no way to identify the code with a specific platform. The only person stopping you from using a specific component will be yourself.