I can talk about the impact of the software or the impact of the operating system. But I’m careful not to say, ‘I’m the guy writing the code.’
“OSDL is small — 50 employees — but we’ve got 75 member companies involved in what we’re doing. It’s pretty exciting. I can talk about the impact of the software or the impact of the operating system. But I’m careful not to say, ‘I’m the guy writing the code.’ The code’s not coming from me and I’m not directing the code. OSDL talks about the business impacts, the legal impacts, the market impacts. We’re not the light-your-hair-on-fire-and-go-picket-everything-that’s-not-free-software people. It’s not about the demise of business. We talk about business and money and profitability all the time. But as much as I’d like to spend all my time on economic development for Oregon, that’s not what our members want me to do. There are a number of exciting things with open source going on in Oregon. But I hate the term Silicon Forest. We’re not Silicon Valley. I don’t hate Silicon Valley — it is what it is. But I was born and raised here. We do things differently.”
Photo by Leah Nash
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