Open Source Initiative's Eric Raymond Says Apple Too Restrictive

by , 11:00 AM EST, March 27th, 2002

Eric Raymond help set the Open Source ball rolling by co-founding the Open Source Initiative, and he had some things to say about Apple's Open Source Darwin endeavors. In a recent article at ZDNet titled Raymond: Mac OS X too restrictive, Mr. Raymond says that Apple's restrictions on Darwin, Apple's Open Source FreeBSD core for Mac OS X, inhibits software development. Mr. Ramond said:

"I don't see a lot of point in putting development effort into it," Raymond said in a recent interview. "I can work with a system that's completely open, so why should I work with Apple's restrictions?"

Mr. Raymond does note that development for other UNIX/Linux won't necessarily leave OS X out. HFrom the article:

"There's enough API (application programming interface) compatibility between BSD and Linux that I can be pretty confident that anything I write under Linux can be pretty trivially ported over to OS X," Raymond said.

You can read more in the full article.

The Mac Observer Spin:

Eric Raymond is an important figure in the development of Open Source development, and there is little doubt that he will be looked back on as a pivotal person in the computing history books. The model he helped develop is an outstanding one, for those who wish to follow it. He says that his way is best, and Apple says that their way is what best suits its needs. Mr. Raymond contributed to the Open Source movement, but the success of Mac OS X does not hinge upon his contributions.

If he prefers to spend his development time with licensing terms more to his liking, he should do just that. It is very important to do what makes you happy in life, or it's hardly worth doing. As Mac OS X continues to grow and develop, it will be here to welcome Mr. Raymond should he ever change his mind. In the meanwhile, we think it safe to say that Mr. Raymond's work will survive without OS X, and OS X will survive very nicely without Mr. Raymond.

Before you think that this is TMO being Apple Apologists, think again. The success of Apple's path for Mac OS X is plain to see before you. There are MANY open source developers who have embraced OS X, though there is always room for more. It's just that many of the arguments being made by Mr. Raymond are the same kinds of Linux vs. BSD arguments that have gone on for years. The two camps have slightly different philosophies in their approach to development, but the computing world is a wide place; there is room for many different schools of thought and many different projects. Should this person or that person eschew one project or another, the world will continue to revolve. Mac OS X has been gathering momentum, and will likely continue to do so.

Raymond: Mac OS X too restrictive