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.
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| 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.
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| Lesson 2: Give it away |
