Open source Halloween: what scares you most?
What was once a kids' holiday has morphed into something like Christmas. One of my neighbors has had inflatable goblins up in front of their house for weeks.
There is much for open source to be frightened of, or pretend to be frightened of. Fear abounds year-round. It's certainly a great way to get a discussion going.
Fear of Microsoft seems the greatest fear. Microsoft's profits are scary, and Microsoft's FUD is scary. Next to that comes the fear of lawsuits, and when Microsoft is suspected of being behind the suits, the goblin becomes a ghoul.
Another, related fear is legal language, specifically the language in license agreements. Again, Microsoft and its intentions make their contribution. Microsoft, as the giant among proprietary software vendors, looms as Frankenstein or King Kong among open source fears.
Lately I have been scaring up interest in other fears. Fear of spam. Fear that the Internet isn't being run fairly. Fear of Google.
Sun Microsystems and IBM, both of which once inspired great fear, no longer do. Both have made their peace with open source and come out as regular members of the community. Can either raise a boo with you?
Then there's the last fear, when I'm almost past fear. Fear of loss, fear of failure, fear that the projects we work closely with will be swallowed up and disappear. Another fine fear.
So, now that we've set the scene, what scares you most, for open source, on Halloween?