As I'm thinking about this more, I think it almost makes my point even more. The only thing about Linux that is useful for an entrepreneur is that it is "free as in beer". How many startups are looking at the source code for Linux, ever?
Certainly thankful for cheaper servers, but that could be accomplished with MIT or BSD, or even closed source.
How many startups are looking at the source code for Linux, ever?
Many or most. They benefit for being able recompile the kernel or compile in support for a device or service. Or to be able to make use of tools provided by others who've done just that.
Which is to say, pretty much every startup I've worked at over the past 15 years.
Rather boggled we're even still fielding this level of ignorance and/or FUD.
And yet, in a competitive marketplace for servers, the BSDs and closed source operating systems have not succeeded to nearly the same degree as Linux, despite predating Linux by many years.
Why do you think that is?
(I'm not trying to be a jerk and ask rhetorical questions; I'm actually pretty jazzed that you're thinking about this critically.)
I think it beats windows because it's free... It beats the others because it is the best free option. I don't know WHY it is the best version honestly. I don't see why gpl Linux would lead to a better OS than bsd, other than Linus is good at making an OS?
Because apple don't have to contribute OSx stuff back to the BSDs (nor did Microsoft when they used a BSD networking stack in windows 95) but e.g. google do have to contribute android kernel stuff back.
You've still totally missed the point. Free software is not about helping you make money. It is about user freedom and improving the lot of the whole of humanity. (NB Free software does not mind if you make money - it is just not there to help you do so.)
yeah… except that all sorts of developers and users get to adapt and run the GNU/Linux OS and related software and do all sorts of valuable work. It's tools that they use not only at low cost, they also adapt them. The ability to set up your OS how you like is a direct result of the freedom the community has to build things and adapt them as we wish. It isn't just about the Linux kernel.
i've used linux plenty during my life, and yet i see very few people using it personally. i find Mac and Windows to be better in almost every way, and I doubt I ever use Linux again.
i will give you servers though, they are certainly useful, and obviously key to many businesses. I'm not sure them being "free" is any better than it being "open source" though. It wouldn't change the equation at all, except that we might have a better version of linux that someone could also sell....
The Linux kernel is a strong counterexample to that claim.