I enjoyed this article for a couple of reasons.  Firstly, it is a reality check for anyone blindly following the "Open Source as panacea" rhetoric.  There is a lot of good in the open source model but there are also good reasons why it is not the underlying design model for most of the modern world.  Whether we like it or not, the world dances to an economic model and that should be no surprise; it is simply a manifestation of the natural rhythms of supply and demand, needs and resources.  Enderle observes that, without a sustainable underlying business model, open source is losing momentum.  The "liberty and free software" zealots are becoming increasingly shrill as they paint themselves into a corner whilst the most successful commercial manifestations of Open Source; RedHat etc look increasingly like "traditional" commercial businesses.

The second point which caught my mind, was the connection which Enderle makes between this and the issue of skills (something else which I touched on before).  I would be a bit wary of making any causal link here but it is certainly the case that there is a very real skills shortage caused in part by the lack of school-leavers wishing to pursue a career in IT and it is good to see that being called out.

Why Open Source and Linux Are Losing Momentum – Rob Enderle