This seems a bit of a chicken and egg problem... why would the early adopters ha... | Hacker News

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cortesoft on July 11, 2021 | parent | context | favorite | on: Tool to convert copyrighted music into fair use

This seems a bit of a chicken and egg problem... why would the early adopters have chosen Linux, before others had been forced to contribute back their changes? The first company to adopt it wouldn't have received any benefits, only an obligation. Why pick it over BSD?

I think there were likely other factors that made it win out.

ripdog on July 11, 2021 | [–]

Oh, for sure. There are always other factors in the real world.

But I think that's the main one that allowed Linux to snowball ahead of the other Unix(-likes).

ric2b on July 17, 2021 | [–]

They would also get the "promise" that the system they were betting on would also get contributions from other companies, making a safer long term bet.

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