Linux Ecosystem Is Worth $25 Billion 176
darthcamaro writes "How much is Linux worth today? That's a question the Linux Foundation is trying to answer in a new report expected to be released on Wednesday.
Life is a healthy respect for mother nature laced with greed.
Re:I Love Linux, but... (Score:5, Informative)
This is therefore an example of Post hoc ergo propter hoc
This is an example of someone not understanding what a particular logical fallacy actually is, and throwing it against the wall hoping it will stick.
Seriously. These online lists of classic fallacies are useful resources, and I think they've done a lot of good by helping people learn to recognize arguments that fail in certain predictable ways, but I'm getting really tired of people just grabbing their favorite and applying it to whatever argument is at hand without pausing to make sure that it actually applies in any meaningful way.
Re:I Love Linux, but... (Score:5, Informative)
A occurred, then B occurred.
Therefore, A caused B.
I really don't see how that applies here.
I think the converse fallacy of accident is more applicable.
Every (business/good/OS) I've seen is worth something, so it must be true that Linux is worth something.
But, as was stated, Linux is not for sale.
Hmm? (Score:3, Informative)
Hmmm, I'm not sure I understand in which way it is a Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc fallacy.
Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc, means almost literally what its translation says: Y happened after X, therefore Y happened because of X. In other words it's mistaking chronology for causation. E.g.,
- I bought a new cell phone last year, and this year I occasionally have migraines. Therefore, the cell phone is obviously the cause of my headaches.
- Bill Hicks spoke against God and religion, then (after many years of it) Bill Hicks died relatively young. Of cancer. Obviously his lack of faith is the cause of his illness.
- I got a raise, and soon thereafter the latest economic bubble burst and the credit crunch kicked in. Obviously my raise the cause of the recession. My wage is that big a burden on the economy ;)
- Jane bought a new TFT monitor, and soon thereafter she got diagnosed with melanoma. Therefore the radiation from TFT monitors must have caused it.
- John switched from Linux to BSD, and soon afterwards he ended up in a mental institution. Therefore BSD drives people insane.
Etc.
The common theme there is really this: "happened after, therefore happened because". Temporal succession => causality.
The difference between it and, say, "correlation != causation" is that here usually you don't even have enough of a sample to even have a proper correlation. You have two random anecdotes and the only thing that connects them is the order of their timestamps, so to speak, and that succession is taken to mean causation.
But you probably knew that already.
So, anyway, assuming that you did mean that particular fallacy, in which way do you see it at work there? It doesn't seem obvious at all to me, and I'm genuinely curious. What case of chronology mistaken for casuality do you have in mind there?
Re:In related news... (Score:3, Informative)