A very fantastic talk on TEDx, delivered by Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin, was shown in youtube. He attributes the success of Linux during his talk to four primary principles:
1. Don't Dream Big
Zemlin quotes poet David Frost in his
first point about not dreaming big: "Don't aim for success if that's
what you want. Do what you love and believe in and it will follow." This
is exactly what Linus Torvalds did when he put his Linux operating
system on the Internet in 1991 and said he didn't think it would be
much, just something he was doing for fun.
Lesson 1: Don't dream big
2. Give It All Away
Zemlin also makes an important point
about how companies make money from software that is given away. By
giving Linux away, Linus Torvalds and the entire Linux community have
created more value than anyone could have imagined. Linux today is
estimated to be worth more than $10B. IBM and Red Hat continue to see
increasing shareholder value, while companies using largely closed
development models have seen little return to their shareholders.
Lesson 2: Give it away
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Zemlin says that even Apple gets the
value of Linux and open source software. Inside every iPhone and iPad,
there is free software. He says," Apple knows something that many people
don't. When you stand on the shoulders of giants you can innovate at
higher levels."
3. Don't Have a Plan
He goes on to explain that the plan for
Linux is there is no plan and shares with the TEDx audience how
self-forming communities result in faster, better collaboration. Seven
changes are made to Linux every hour, 24 hours a day, because people are
self-motivated and care about what they're working on.
Lesson 3: Don't have a plan
4. Don't Be Nice
His last point is perhaps the most
entertaining and provocative. Zemlin talks here about the value of flame
wars, defending ideas and ridiculing code. The result? Better software.
He cites a UC Berkeley study that found groups that are encouraged to
debate rigorously and defend their ideas, opposed to traditional
brainstorming where every idea is a good idea, come up with better
ideas. Just be yourself.
Lesson 4: Don't always have to be nice
In LinuxCon 2013 Japan, Zemlin also added the lesson number five from Linux Foundation: The best firms invest in external research and development.
Lesson 5 Added in LinuxCon2013 Japan
I don't want to spoil the ending so
I'll just say that he makes the argument that the future is one where
you can enrich yourself while at the same time enriching others. Check
out the 18-minute talk here and share. If this TEDx Talk inspires you, let the TED team know and help us spread the word about Linux.
