Groklaw Articles Ending on May 16th

Groklaw Articles Ending on May 16th

By Pamela Jones
Groklaw

April 09 2011

I have decided that Groklaw will stop publishing new articles on our anniversary, May 16.

I know a lot of you will be unhappy to hear it, so let me briefly explain, because my decision is made and it's firm. In a simple sentence, the reason is this: the crisis SCO initiated over Linux is over, and Linux won. SCO as we knew it is no more.

There will be other battles, and there already are, because the same people that propped SCO up are still going to try to destroy Linux, but the battlefield has shifted, and I don't feel Groklaw is needed in the new battlefield the way it was in the SCO v. Linux wars.

Remember that when I started Groklaw, I had no intention to create something as huge as Groklaw became. I really was just trying to learn how to blog. When all of you showed up, I saw what we could accomplish together, and we did. But to do it, I had to set aside a lot of things that are important to me too. I'd like to go back to being nobody, just living a normal life again.

I kept going all these years because when SCO attacked in the media and in the courtrooms, there was nobody to do what we did. Only the community could have answered SCO, technically, because you guys lived the history of UNIX and Linux and you knew what they were saying was not true. So we spoke up and explained over and over until everyone understood.

I know. The money behind SCO still have their daydreams. But the world has moved from computers and desktops to mobile and the cloud. Now it's Microsoft and all its venal little helpers and proxies attacking Google and Android. Linux back in 2003 had nobody to stand up for it. But Google doesn't need our help. I'm sure it wouldn't mind, but they have plenty of money and they can hire whatever they need or just buy it. I was willing to accept the threats and the danger and the smear campaigns I've had to experience when it was for the community. But I don't feel the same, if I see I'm not needed, and I see it. Android has won. No matter what tricks Microsoft may pull going forward, the world knows now that when there was free choice in the marketplace, people chose Android, which runs on Linux, over Microsoft's phone. Nothing they do can change that. All they can prove perhaps is that dirty tricks and misuse of the courts and regulatory bodies can distort the marketplace. But without the benefits of a monopoly, people don't actually choose Microsoft phones, at least not in comparison to Android. All they can do about that now is try to force you to use their products. That's in a way what a monopoly is.

So that's my decision. I have some other things I want to get back to and a project I've wanted to get to for a long time, and I want to be able to wake up and not worry about what happened in the news. I'll tell you truly, I never worked so hard in my life as I have with Groklaw, and while it's been a thrill and deeply satisfying, it's also been all-consuming of my time and skills and energy. The events recently in Japan deeply affected me, and it reminded me that there are some other things I'd like to accomplish, while there is world enough and time.

We'll keep the Timelines up to date with court documents, and we'll still finish the Comes exhibits if it kills me, so just email me your work when commenting is closed, if you are willing to keep helping.

I know some of you are as addicted to Groklaw as I am, so I've been slowing down how often I write articles recently, to help you get acclimated. I also was testing to see if I could try to slow down a bit and do it all, but I see I can't. To do Groklaw right, it requires my total attention and focus. But I don't want anyone to get the bends, including me. I have loved doing Groklaw, and I love hanging out with you guys. As far as I'm concerned, we're friends for life. While we have watched unbelievable venality and greed at play in the battle on the other side, the community remained true to its values, and I'm proud of that and I'm proud of you. I'm proud that Groklaw played the role that it did.

I always told you that I didn't do Groklaw for money or for fame or as a career move. I did it to be effective. That's all I wanted. And I told you that when it was over, I'd go back to my normal pre-Groklaw life. And now you know by this decision that I told you the truth.

No matter what happens next, I know that we changed the course of history. How many people get to say that? I never expected it, frankly, and I am grinning just thinking about how much fun we've had doing it. Our work will be available for historians permanently, so the impact we had isn't over today, and someday we'll tell our grandkids that we were part of this, part of Groklaw. We are in the history books. Our work will continue as long as anyone cares about this unique time period in the history of computer software, a history that we are a part of forever. And that is a long, long time.

In short, we dood it, y'all.

04:14 PM EDT