Man Overboard: GNOME Cofounder Joins The Mac Side

"People are free to come and go," said Google+ blogger Gonzalo Velasco C. of Miguel de Icaza's departure. "I should thank him, as a GNU/Linux and GNOME user, for everything." Still, it's not really fair to compare the closed Apple ecosystem, which includes both hardware and software, to GNU/Linux, which "is made for 'any hardware.' Rough edges are expected, and every day this is getting smoother, I think."

It seems fair to say that the FOSS community sees its ranks expand just about every day, as new fans of free and open source software join the fold. Just look at the fledgling Linux Advocates site for a shining example.

What's much less common, however, is to see former advocates of Linux and FOSS change their minds and depart.

Sure enough, though, that's pretty much what happened last week, when GNOME cofounder Miguel de Icaza announced that he had abandoned desktop Linux in favor of Apple's Mac platform.