A couple of years ago, advocating open source was like joining a twelve-step program; little good came out of it, but you and your friends helped each other believe that you weren't crazy. Occasionally, a manager or two would join the dysfunctional family. On a good day, it was an epic fight -- all of us gathered together under the banner of the Just and True toiling away to overthrow the Evil Emperor and his Dark Forces. On a bad day, it was a lot of petty squabbling and infighting. (PHP is so bad, it's even worse that Python! And it's slow and ugly, too!)
Thankfully, those days are mostly behind us (and not a moment too soon).
What's open source advocacy like these days? Take a gander at what roblimo has to say about it:
The difference between this presentation and past ones I've done is that I didn't talk about the wonders of Linux very much. I talked about making attractive Web sites at minimal cost, and mentioned Linux, Apache and some other software as tools. For this audience, composed primarily of local non-computer business owners and managers, software is not a primary concern. To them software is like a telephone system or a pickup truck: a tool. If they find a new software tool that'll do what needs to be done better, faster or cheaper than the one they're already using, they'll switch brands as fast as they'll buy a Ford pickup instead of a Chevy (or vice versa).Some of us have been saying this a long time. Perhaps the message just needs to be repeated widely and often to get heard...
