The high priests of free software have congregated at Google Inc. (Nasdaq:GOOG – news) headquarters this week to debate the future of the movement and face down recent patent threats by Microsoft Corp.

Linux is the best-known variant of so-called open source software — software that is freely available to the public to be used, revised and shared. Linux suppliers earn money selling improvements and technical services. By contrast, Microsoft charges for software and opposes freely sharing its code.”Ultimately, I think (Linux) is being pushed by commercial forces … Now a lot of people are being paid to do Linux as professionals,” he said of how many top open-source developers now work for big-name companies like Google, HP and Oracle.

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Friday, June 15th, 2007 at 7:39 am | by Neezar |