Revolutions are often thought of as loud, lenthy and noisy affairs. They are also perceived as an event where one could, if passionately engaged, suffer major tissue trauma. Many in revolutionary fevor have taken it as far as to assume room temperature for their troubles.

I've skipped those kinds of revolutions so far...one by not so much. That unfortunate incident in Southern Honduras could have been difficult to sanitize....

If you are reading this, chances are good that you have some degree of involvement with the technology revolution. And yes, I didn't call it the Linux Revolution for a reason.

It's going to go much deeper than that.

You and I are fortunate enough to be a part of a major shift in the way software and information are disseminated. This is a global change, significant past many of our comprehension skills. Watch Microsoft thrash around and you will understand what I mean. They have already saturated the market...there is nowhere for them to go but down; in the software business anyway. They have recently challenged Google and Yahoo in the online advertising game.

Why do you think they are so focused on making these deals with the Corporate Linux Structure? Their stockholders are not partisan. They don't care where the dividends come from...as long as they are written in black ink and not red.

Some say that Google heralded the era, but of course without the Linux Operating System, Google would not exist as we know them today...or possibly at all.

An entire globe is on the verge of a shift in technology that will impact the very way we approach business and government operations. You stand behind them, ready to supply the push that will make it history, not conjecture.

16 years ago this week, Linus sent that now-famous message out into the byte-O-sphere, announcing the release of the code for his "hobby"

Well, I bet your folks are proud of you Linus.

Your "Hobby" has begun to nudge an entire globe into a better way of doing things. It has spawned the growth of a 30 million person user base. But it has done something more important than that.

It has walked up behind the status Quo and kicked it squarely in the buttocks.

Hard.

The Status Quo by the way, isn't exactly happy about it. You can fully expect the dirtiest of back-alley brawler's tricks and deceptions. Those who don't think so would serve the rest of the community well by standing out of the way. You are going to get someone hurt.

So yes, I will today turn to the West and nod my head to the author of the Linux Kernel. I am not writing this to speak of his obvious genius. Neither am I banging on a keyboard to offer praise and accolades to our kernel developers, distro authors and graphic artists.

That is being done far better than I can do it. No, there is something more important than the Linus Legacy of Technological Achievment. Without this one steadfast fact the whole thing would have folded like a house of SCO. It's an inherent part of his whole that gives you and I the chance to advocate...the one thing that makes it possible to give Linux and FOSS to the world.

Integrity.

Unwaivering, pure-to-the-bone integrity.

Linus Torvalds could have been a millionaire many times over long before now. Instead of following today's pattern of sprinting to the patent office, trampling old ladies and kittens in his path, he practiced the convictions that he quietly held. He presented his code to the world.

By doing so Linus torvalds gave his fortune to the world.

Sadly enough, his name will never be known by the masses. It takes a measure of self-promotion for that to happen, and given his past behavior...I don't see that happening.

Let me tell you what I do see.

I see a community at odds with one and other over petty, insignificant minutia. I see attitudes that reflect "I've-got-mine-screw-you". Not often, but often enough to give it mention here. it has appeared bold-faced in the comments to this blog repeatedly. I've noticed a community that has absolutely no understanding of the power they possess.

I see firsthand the frustration of the relative few who are trying to change that particular behavior. it will ultimately be that behavior that makes us to fade into vapor and disappear. We will disappear without so much as a wisp of influence.

In the event this is indeed our fate, I think it would be the best of any negative outcome.

They who disappear into vapor are rarely sited as those who had a chance to change the world and didn't bother to do it.

Thank You Linus.

Not for your achievement

Thank you for your true and giving spirit.

The next 18 months will tell if we are worthy of the sacrifice.

All-Righty Then,

h