-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 (Bowing) - Thank you! I agree that selling to AOL may be a stupid move for RH, but the way it apparently sounds to RH actually matches the philosophy I've read in interviews in Linux Magazine. It is also consistent with the short-sightedness that caused them to release RH 7.1 using a development library instead of a stable one.
Yet much of the response wasn't to you but the the trend in responses I've been noticing. When I saw the notice, my first thought was: "Well, Red Hat is being Red Hat. That's why I don't use it." On Sunday 20 January 2002 1:14 am, Mark Petersen wrote: > Wow! Impressive! Especially the multisyllable reference! > Humm... Is someone hinting that I may be an idiot? Well, that > just may be true! But, the point I'm trying to get at here is > that AOL has absoluletely bastardized everything they have put > their hands on since the day of their inception, and taken > advantage of less *technically savvy* users for just as long > with their marketing glitz. Red Hat is (in my humble opinion) > a great product. I'd hate to see it destroyed by a hack fest > of an operation like AOhell. I don't particularly care about > the business, or the money. Just the product. That's all. > Plain and simple. To be honest, Robert, I'm not sure why you > assumed *I* needed a history lesson (SCOUnix? Yep...Been > there, done that...), but thank you just the same! ;-) Have > a great night! > -Mark > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Robert Black Eagle > To: Mark Petersen > Sent: Saturday, January 19, 2002 10:34 PM > Subject: Thoughts on DL > > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > Let's not talk about "selling out" (re: possible purchase by > AOL or RH), but about entrepreneurship (Hey, Ma! -- Look! > More than three syllables!) > > Several things motivate a business: Making money (otherwise, > just work for someone else), offer a new product, better > service or otherwise distinguishably (and hopefully better) > offering for the customers, the excitement of the challenge > and perhaps a wish to see one's name in lights. > > If RH "sells out" (based on interviews with the founders of > RH), I would say it is most likely because they see themselves > as the "leading edge" of the Linux movement and will like to > see it do well in the marketplace and on the desktop. They've > done a good job, but they've also bought into the "rush to > market with the latest" approach to their distribution and > it's already caused a number of embarrasing releases that > wouldn't quite work. As I understand their philosopy, a > well-structured sale to AOL would actually fit the vision they > had when they started. > > Joe's vision, as he states it, is to accept that MS has done > a damn good job of packaging and has had any number of really > good ideas (many of them originally stolen from Unix and > Apple), but has put them together in a package thatis both > buggy and appealing in its simplicity for the average user. > > Linux, until Joe, seemed primarily designed for the geek or > the technologically proficient (same thing, actually) -- a > tiny minority of users. More and more people have had the > vision of producing a distribution of linux that would appeal > to the average desktop user. What was needed was a collection > of easy-to-use productivity and entertainment products that > performed pretty much as expected. > > As recently as three years ago, all we could find were some > mediocre word processors, a few clumsy spreadsheet programs > that reminded me of the kinds available in the early 1980's, > tons of klutzy editors (sorry you emacs and vi fans -- but > that's the judgment of the vast majority of ordinary users), > a few graphics tools, nothing really useful for accounting > and, in general, a really nice operating system and not much > else. Unix on a desktop -- and not much else. (Except we did > have TeX.) > > Within a year, we had Star Office 5.2 -- a really good and > usable word processor and spreadsheet application that I was > already using, Moneydance -- a modest but powerful > accounting package, and some GUI based text editors that > really worked. > > Today, we have some really good applications, Kapital (not > quite there, folks, but, within a month or so will be) for > accounting and I have absolutely no need for Windows for > anything except my taxes. > > I'm running, not on the latest and greatest, but on an old > 200 MHz machine with only 128MB RAM and 4GB of hard disk > space. It's as fast as any Windows programs, is rapidly losing > its clumsiness, and, thanks to Joe, not overcrowded with > applications I will not use in a month of Sundays. Instead, I > have a lean, mean and fantastically well designed desktop > program with the ability to add other programs that I would > want, but without having options I don't give a damn about. > > In other words, Joe has fulfilled the early (and now > abandoned) dream of Caldera's desktop installation plus taken > some of the beneficial lessons from MS. Rather than condemn > MS for bugs and complexities and really difficult > administration tools, he has praised them for their successes > in getting so many people to using computers productively and > entertainingly and brought many of their best features to > Linux. > > And it keeps getting better -- month by month. MS gets > better and gets more bugs with each distribution. Its > security stinks (way too many holes and why they still have > Outlook Express -- perhaps for "if you use it, you had better > look out" -- I have no idea) and its memory management leaves > just a little bit to be desired. I mean, I hate those crashes > and page faults. > > I'm excited by what Joe is doing. But I don't jump on RH > for "selling out." That's only the way it looks if you think > of any big business as an enemy (why anyone would think that > way, only their psychiatrist would know). In fact, it is my > hope that this new company becomes huge and successful. If it > does, it will only stay that way by keeping its present > vision. If it doesn't, if it becomes buggy and clumsy, > someone else will replace it. > > That's the way of business. > > - -- > Robert Black Eagle > Bus. Site: http://www.desertsilver.com > Protect your email with PGP or GNUPG > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1.0.6 (GNU/Linux) > Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org > > > iD8DBQE8SmUYtjSYKkYJrmcRAtxrAJ0fuEZ0SzMDF5uirEvfsQ5QF8+BnACfdv >zR QVe6ssKQLvHgejIH7uUGh6g= > =d03Y > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- - -- Robert Black Eagle Bus. Site: http://www.desertsilver.com Protect your email with PGP or GNUPG -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.6 (GNU/Linux) Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org iD8DBQE8Sw5qtjSYKkYJrmcRAkVVAJ43RWBxqsGCQE7l7afHVfuvyi8xFQCfRQ1z 4r3k8mEgZJBWoP6wsWgbTto= =cQ3s -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- - -- rl-users list. To leave, send "unsubscribe" without quotes in body of message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/rl-users@chicago.redmondlinux.org/
