The Linux Cookbook, Jan 22, 2005

Linux is a return to the old tradition, to the individual inventor-scientist and industrial entrepreneur as the productive member of an educated populace. That's what so exciting about it.

There are some people who are passionate about the differences between "free software" and "open source." I'm beginning to wonder if the difference matters. The term "free software" came into use at about the same time that Richard Stallman quit his job at MIT, launched the GNU Project, and began writing the software that would eventually become the core of the free software community: emacs, the GNU "C" compile (gcc), the "C" libraries, and a few others.

The news yesterday that China's largest software testing organization was joining the OSDL was at the same time a bit exciting and scary to me as an American-based developer.

The government-funded Beijing Software Testing Center was founded in 2002 with a primary goal of accelerating the development of China's software export industry.

What this means for Linux could be great -- I mean having the government of the most populous nation on earth pouring resources into the development of Linux is amazing. This should have a real impact of Linux's development -- especially in the Chinese market and other markets in Asia.