Q: What do post-Soviet Russians and Bill Gates have in common?
A: Both have been known to describe Linux and open source software as “communist” because of their collaborative nature.
Moreover, at various times US right-wingers have been known to call Linux either unpatriotic, un-American or the operating system of terrorists.
Against this background, one quote last month from a UK politician with aspirations of power really caught my eye:
“Another example is Linux. Linux is the open-source operating system that is the main rival to Microsoft Windows.
Linux is constantly updated and improved. Yet no one owns Linux. No one is directing the improvements or updates. The code is available on-line and thousands of independent programmers make changes, fix bugs, and add new features – all for no personal gain.“
Who was responsible for this? The Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne MP, while he was giving the Olsen Memorial Lecture last month and taking as his theme “Politics and Media in the Internet Age”. If you don’t believe me, read the full transcript of the speech; the above quote is about three-quarters of the way down.
That’s right! It comes from a Tory, a toff, the traditional foe for a working class lad such as myself, a member of the party once styled “the nasty party” by one of its former Chairmen. Have the Conservatives really moved that far to the left they now embrace ideas post-Soviet Russians regard as too extremely left?
What’s one to make of this? Did George really understand and endorse everything he said? Does he just have a clever speech writer instead? As with all politics, one has to reach one’s own conclusions.
