john_hudson wrote:Just leave your desktop and expand your horizons. Whatever happens to the desktop, Linux is here to stay on supercomputers, as part of the infrastructure of the Internet, in digital televisions, in satellite navigation systems and in mobile 'phones. There would not have been the huge increase in contributions to the kernel if companies and individuals did not think that Linux has a future.

More fundamentally Linux is part of a shift in the way development takes place. In the 80s people learnt how to program on home computers; in the 90s people, often reluctantly, moved to DOS because that was where most games development was taking place. But the FOSS way of development gives any young programmer the chance to create code, have it peer reviewed and if it is good enough used by millions of people some of whom will give feedback. Because your name is on the code that is your reference for a job. You simply cannot get that sort of experience with a proprietary company and you risk losing your network unless you join a company that supports FOSS.

Proprietary companies will find it harder and harder to get first class programmers; the quality of their products will decline relative to FOSS products and they will only be able to survive either by adopting the FOSS approach of by retreating to a niche which is too small or specialised to gain the interest of FOSS programmers.