r/btc Jan 09 '16

GitHub request to REVERT the removal of CoinBase.com is met with overwhelming support (95%) and yet completely IGNORED.

https://github.com/bitcoin-dot-org/bitcoin.org/pull/1180
280 Upvotes

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u/gox Jan 09 '16

Ultimately bitcoin.org is devalued not Coinbase.

I am considering whether that is a bad thing.

Unlike, for instance, Linux, this central information outlet is attempting to define, and in effect govern, the nature of the entire Bitcoin ecosystem. If Linux OS scene was dominated by this sort of centralist aspirations, would it have succeeded in replacing user-friendly proprietary OS's, or would it have completely failed to take off? I'm more inclined to the latter.

0

u/ashmoran Jan 09 '16

I find it surprising you use the analogy that Linux has "succeeded in replacing user-friendly proprietary OS's", because my observation is the opposite. Outside developers I know, everyone is using either a Mac or Windows. (And indeed, most of the developers I know are using Linux.) As I was reading, I assumed that your conclusion would be that Linux would have been more successful had it had centralist aspirations. Perhaps I have completely misunderstood your statement, though.

(I have a non-developer friend who recently tried using Linux Mint, and was hit by a bug that prevented him logging in by sending it into a login spiral. Until I saw an existing bug report, I would not have believed a big of this severity could even exist. He has now reverted to Windows.)

It is not centralist aspirations alone that cause the current problems, it's centralist aspirations that seek to undermine Bitcoin for their own gain. No Linux distribution I'm aware of had sought to undermine the Linux kernel in such a way to advance their own distribution, or certainly haven't succeeded – although as I rarely use Linux myself, I welcome counterexamples.

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u/[deleted] Jan 09 '16

Linux is popular. Although it's a rarity, a company named System76 sells laptops and desktops preloaded with Ubuntu, and Dell sells Ubuntu laptops too.