5. Technical difficulties and challenges

5.1 False problems

• Fragmentation: some commentators have pointed to the risk of free software leading to increased fragmentation into competing software for similar tasks. The risk arises from the fact that, at any time, a developer or group of developers can take the current state of the software and create a "fork" that will lead to two competing developments. This possibility is intrinsically linked to free software licenses and plays an important role in user confidence. The flaw would therefore be structural. In practice, however, this risk of fragmentation does not appear to be real, and has been exaggerated on the basis of past experience with the fragmentation of Unix systems, which occurred on the contrary because of their proprietary nature. In practice,...