Paul Graham: ‘What Business Can Learn From Open Source’

New essay from Paul Graham, derived from a talk at Oscon 2005. Best line:

The atmosphere of the average workplace is to productivity what flames painted on the side of a car are to speed. And it’s not just the way offices look that’s bleak. The way people act is just as bad.

He also points out:

At this point, anyone proposing to run Windows on servers should be prepared to explain what they know about servers that Google, Yahoo, and Amazon don’t.

Another reason I think companies like Google, Yahoo, and Amazon don’t use (and probably never even considered using) Windows-based servers is that they see Microsoft as a major competitor. It’d be foolish to depend upon a major competitor for critical infrastructure.

★ Monday, 8 August 2005