Phipps explains what he really meant

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What he really meant

I don't believe in objectivity or many forms of rational discourse any more. I am not surprised when people are turned off by my willingness to include anything I say in my examples. It's the case of the con man thinking respectable people are those whose routines succeed--but to my way of thinking this goes both ways.

I respect attempts to be fair. I definitely respect this one. I have gone and read what Mr. Phipps regards as a fairer article. I have reread your article, keeping in mind the level of vitriol which one finds in Linux-centered blogs (and which I have contributed to), and the amount of it which has been directed at Sun, regardless of who is in charge.

Do I think he is owed an apology? No I don't. I don't believe you wronged or exposed him, except in the sense that like his predecessors he is not interested in selling to people who see their personal machines as toolkits and may turn to Unix-derived systems because, with their long history of development, they are reliable and affordable for personal use compared to other machines, as opposed to those who do see this soley in terms of making money. I'm not saying he's wrong. I'm just saying there are elements of the community for whom Sun's rhetoric, which he is extending, is as appropriate as telling Emma Goldman, hiding in her boyfriend's bathtub from the Palmer Raids, that she's never going to convince people unless she dresses in a more businesslike manner.

Speaking as a sometimes black pot, I want to thank you for your efforts to practice courtesy, and I want to thank you for the simple fact that you try to keep the open source discussion as open and broad as possible. I don't necessarily think Mr. Phipps should be "Politically Correct" but I do believe he too well represents a corporate culture which has made a lot of this trouble for itself and that more courtesy to those he is not necessarily trying to make sales from will do more to dampen these controversies -- even than the many good deeds Sun has done over the years.

You originally asked "Why can't it be both?" In the back of my head I thought, "Because it's Sun." Groklaw tends to churn marvellously whenever Sun talks about Open Source. "Flip-Flop" is a comment I've seen often. In a very real sense they are like Microsoft in that they are only willing to address the concept of Open Source within the context of their corporate culture. Microsoft, at least, is not preaching to the uncoverted, except in a very limited sense. They use other means to get support. Sun seems to be trying to get support through their statements. The least they can do is to recognize that this is a community of awesome diversity.

Posted by: jplatt39   Posted on: 07/01/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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