In March 2006, Peter Quinn (former Massachusetts chief information officer (CIO), made comments about clothing that set off a bizarre firestorm of news and discussion. His comments were noted in ZDNet Australia's article, "Sandals and ponytail set cramp Linux", CNET's article 'Sandal and ponytail set' cramping Linux adoption?, and many others. There were even articles in Linux Weekly News (LWN) and Slashdot.

What did Quinn say? He simply stated that the appearance of many free-libre / open source software (FLOSS) developers detracts from FLOSS adoption. "Open source has an unprofessional appearance, and the community needs to be more business savvy in order to start to make inroads in areas traditionally dominated by [proprietary] software vendors. [Having] a face on a project or agenda makes it attractive for politicians [to consider open source]."

Guess what? He's right.