With the introduction of PHP5, the question emerges, What would Linus do?
“I want to continue to try to avoid making money directly off Linux - that keeps me focused on purely technical issues with the Linux kernel,” says Linus Torvalds(http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue3_3/torvalds/).
It’s clear that Linus sees a conflict of interest between being the guiding force of an open source community project and directly profiting from its implementation. He sees that if he owned a company that profited directly from implementing a proprietary Linux OS, he would make decisions that would help his company profit, not necessarily improve the Linux kernel for the community effort.
PHP5 is an example of what happens when a company who guides the development of an open source software project has their entire business model wrapped up in its success. Decisions aren’t made entirely for the community, but instead are more self-motivated. Then PR statements are issued and press releases are sent to bend the minds of the community to accept the chosen direction of the few, not the many.
These days, the people at Zend are eating fine food and driving luxurious cars. Congratulations on this. However, they have lost touch with their own creation. Instead of a business plan that involves sacrificing community in exchange for lucrative deals with corporations, consider an alternative business plan that will make more money, increase the popularity of PHP and give PHP distinction throughout the IT world. The key is to amplify the qualities that people have said makes PHP their choice for development.
