this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2024
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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I don't think they're pretending. Open source software is a valuable resource for basically all major tech companies, and a lot of it is driven by major tech companies. Some kind of combination of open source and proprietary software will always be a thing for them. This isn't some major contradiction, they use either model based on the specific needs of the project.
This is why some think "Open Source" is too permissive since they see it as free/cheap labor to be exploited by huge corporations.
I'm not sure that I see it that way, but I can see their point.
If as soon as it's more profitable for it to not be they stop supporting it, then yes they were pretending.
It's not as if they are holding themselves up as supporting Free Software philosophies (as opposed to Open Source), so where's the pretense?
If somehow it ever makes strategic sense for them to stop making use of the open source model, yeah, they'll stop. That doesn't mean they were pretending.