[aclug-L] Re: FW: Red Hat Network ...

[Lars von dem Ast <prenzl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Nate Bargmann wrote:
>* ironrose <ironrose@xxxxxxx> [2003 Mar 08 06:06 -0600]:
>  
>
>>I just hope that the public doesn't take advantage of Open 
>>Source's generosity and belittle the streamlined and useful programs 
>>that Open Source has to offer.
>>    
>>
>
>Taking advantage of and abusing this community is happening right 
>now--by an outfit called SCO-Caldera.
>
>I know Dale dropped a link in here yesterday about the news of the
>lawsuit filed by SCO-Caldera against IBM.  Everybody has probably
>already read as much as they care to on this subject.
>
>In short, though, Linux Weekly News did include an excerpt from the
>filed complaint in which SCO-Caldera claims that Linux was merely a 
>toy, a hobbyist OS (and other put-downs), until a benefactor appeared
>(alleged to be IBM) and added all sorts of things that could only be
>explained by copying SCO-Caldera's source code into Linux.  How absurd.
>
>A delicious irony was also pointed out on LWN, that being that Alan Cox
>began the SMP work on Linux around 1995 (long before IBM took an active
>interest in Linux) on a multi-processor machine donated, by of all
>companies, Caldera.
>
>This is a pure money play.  However, the community needs to take this
>seriously and fight this in all manner possible and do what we can to
>ensure SCO-Caldera does not get one red cent of what they are asking.
>
>- Nate >>
>
>  
>
As far as "good people" being at Red Hat, I used to work at Microsoft 
and I met tons of "good people" there too. And no matter which side 
you're on on the upcoming installment of "Blood for Oil," both Iraq and 
the U.S. have "good people." It's the people at the top who make the 
decisions that make all of their "good people" look either good or. . . bad.

I use Linux mainly because of the arguments made by Richard Stallman, 
i.e., GNU/Linux is free as in freedom in the academic sense, i.i.e., a 
free research and development environment benefits all, rather than 
someone playing keep-away with a development for profit motives. As one 
pundit said, if Newton had made his discoveries in a modern "free 
market" setting, we'd be paying somebody a royalty fee every time we 
used gravity "for commercial purposes."

RH needs to make a profit? This sounds like "yeah, the software is free, 
but getting the 'free' software will cost you." Oh by the way, I really 
don't need to be lectured or patronized on basic macro economics by any 
of the "realists" on this forum. The spirit of free and open source 
software and software systems is 1) no cost, 2) easy availability, and 
3) source code availability. The vast majority of contributors 
understood this to be the case and have contributed with this basic 
understanding of the purpose and goals of free and open source software. 
To gradually erode this definition is to double-cross those 
contributors, to change the rules after the fact.

Again, save your breath lecturing me on "economic realities." These 
so-called "economic realities" can be used to justify almost anything 
these days, and I'm really tired of "economic reality." After all 
"economic reality" is just a sub-set of "real reality." Anyway, real and 
economic reality are headed for a very mean collision in the 
not-so-distant future--and I know who's going to win.

I see the day when money will spoil and derail the overall Linux effort. 
SCO/Caldera has already gone beyond the point of no return, and RH will 
also if they encumber the free download of their software anymore than 
it already is. SUSE has made their distro a direct "net install," i.e., 
no ability to make CDs from images. This is an inconvenience calculated 
to frustrate people into buying their shrink-wrapped CDs. And I really 
don't care if they can't make a go of it strictly on value-adding and 
service contracting. The whole commercial world is shifting to "lease" 
and "rent" gimmickry. For example, farmers must now "lease" seed!! for 
each growing season, since the seed has "patented" genetic manipulations 
and they don't want farmers harvesting "their" seeds and using them the 
next season. M$ also is going strong for leasing-subscription. This 
means everyone is trying to establish a hand in your pocket on a 
semi-permanent basis. Do the math and you'll not like what you see.

One of the great strengths of free and open source software and software 
systems is the ability to go where the money isn't! I've seen the 
"death" of the Linux desktop trumpeted in many "reputable" magazines and 
publications. Now, imagine if Linux was exclusively in the world of 
big-money, for-profit corporations. It's easy to see the management 
wonks reading this propaganda and one dark day marching down the hall to 
the "Linux Desktop Team" to fire or reassign all the developers. Very 
luckily this cannot happen, and luckily the KDE, Gnome, etc., people are 
simply not listening! I just saw how the German government wants to see 
KDE on their computers in a big way.

One day we'll all laugh about the "free market" system the same way we 
laugh about communism today. Both will be lumped together as extinct 
dinosaurs that didn't make it and were put out of their misery by a 
wised-up human race.

Lb


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