Put three geeks in a room and it won't take long to start an argument. Well, analyst Dennis Byron, veteran open-source exec Stuart Cohen, and ex-Microsoft developer Keith Curtis weren't exactly in the same room, but all three have provocative opinions about the future of software in general and of open source in particular.

Byron, who has 30 years of technology experience under his belt, thinks that the open-source era is coming to an inglorious end, with Linux and the like becoming "an asterisk in the history and future of technology." Moreover, he claims that the long struggle against Microsoft's undue influence hurt the software industry more than it hurt Gates & Co.

Cohen, CEO of Collaborative Software Initiative, argues that open-source's greatest strength -- its top-notch code -- is also its greatest weakness.

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