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I'm not terribly concerned. Yet. The issue seems to predominantly turn on the use of the "centos.org" domain name. They can always start operating under a new one, and set up new PayPal/whatever accounts. Will they take a hit in "brand recognition" and, potentially, credibility? Sure. Have they potentially hurt [their constituents|FOSS|cute woodland creatures], by not addressing this earlier? Sure. Does every major FOSS project run into this sort of growing pain upon becoming popular? Most likely. In fact, I'm sure it happens behind the scenes more often than we know. Personnel churn is, it seems, part and parcel of every enterprise, for-profit or otherwise. One can argue that volunteers are MORE likely to churn, owing to a higher "hassle-to-compensation" ratio than their paid compatriots. The CentOS organization is pretty young (in terms of its date of inception; I can't speak about the age of its principal participants, though could probably guess with a reasonable degree of accuracy). Combine this with the possibility that it's most likely run by geeks who -- let's face it, gang -- may not be possessed of the sharpest people-management skills, and you have a recipe for growing pains like this. I wonder how many times [Debian|Apache|Samba|Python|KDE] came close to crashing and burning before "the organization" (however informally-organized) got its act together, structured itself like a unit befitting the needs and expectations of its constituency, dumped its dead weight, and went on to become a well-oiled machine with contingency plans that anticipate and embrace (rather than react to- and fear) future change? Anyway, I'm not worried that CentOS is dead quite yet. Incidentally, there's an update on www.centos.org: "Facts Regarding CentOS and the Open Letter to Lance Davis # CentOS is not dead or going away. The signers of the Open Letter are fully committed to continue the CentOS Project. Updates and new releases will continue. # The issues raised in the Open Letter have been raised privately literally for years and a voluntary resolution had been hoped for and worked toward. But progress requires follow through. We have tried contacting Lance in private for a long period of time before this Open Letter. While we received promises, there was no real response or follow through from him on promises made. We are sure he is not dead, on vacation, or sick. Once we all decided there was no movement in the matter we created the Open Letter. This is not something that appeared just recently. # We would really like to continue the project using the centos.org domain. That is one of the reasons for the Open Letter. But the developers will move to another domain if there is no other option. Protective backups are in place; hot machines exist to allow for a cutover with a simple one time installation of one RPM package. We continue to refine our plans if this might be the case, to make the transition as smooth as possible. # We thank the people who have stepped forward and want to donate to the CentOS project to hold off for now until issues surrounding the centos.org domain and donation policy are resolved. Selected donations will be privately solicited by the signers of the Open Letter on some transition matters. We will post general instructions on how you can help the project as matters become resolved. # The CentOS project is run completely by volunteers and we are aware that this requires a different management style. We have been and continue to work to prevent issues like these from occurring in the future. We will continue this effort in the future, but the matters mentioned in the Open Letter prevent us from moving forward at this moment, as they need to be resolved first. Last Update: July 30, 2009 20:45 UTC by Donavan" Back to it, - -sth sam hooker|[email protected]|http://www.noiseplant.com "I haven't failed; I've found 10,000 ways that don't work." Thomas Edison - ----- "Paul Flint" <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear Rubin, > > If I were a Centos based system in production, this incident would be > a > tremendous motivator to move from "Unsupported" Centos to "Supported" > Red > Hat, admittedly for a small fee. > > Personally I would buy Red Hat Stock. I think that they are about to > make > a lot of sales... > > Regards, > > Flint > > On Thu, 30 Jul 2009, Rubin Bennett wrote: > > > Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:30:11 -0400 > > From: Rubin Bennett <[email protected]> > > Reply-To: Vermont Area Group of Unix Enthusiasts > <[email protected]> > > To: [email protected] > > Subject: Re: Fwd: melodrama at CentOS? > > > > On Thu, 2009-07-30 at 16:20 -0400, Stanley Brinkerhoff wrote: > >> > >> I'm curious how this will play out -- a lot of managed > hosts > >> use CentOS > >> as a default option as it's free and they have staff on > board > >> who can > >> administer and support it; if the option goes away, I > wonder > >> what free > >> OS with LTS cycles will be used? Debian is a very > different > >> beast than > >> RHEL... > >> > >> > >> My vote is for Ubuntu. RPM's always made me queasy. > >> > > Oooh, them's fightin' words! > > > > If I'm not mistaken, RPMs and .debs share a very similar internal > file > > structure. I know that RPMs are actually just CPIO archives with a > text > > header - are .deb files the same? > > > > In any case, I share your concern but in reverse: .debs drive me > insane > > and RPMs rock. I can roll an RPM from source with my bare hands! > With > > one tied behind my back even! So there. :P > > > > Re: CentOS, my strong suspicion is that the missing person will > stand up > > long enough to hand over the reins, and CentOS will carry on just as > it > > is. That is unless RedHat took him hostage in a plot to take over > > the... no, lose market share... or, um, well, nevermind... :) > > > > > > Rubin > > > >> Stan > >> > > -- > > Rubin Bennett > > rbTechnologies, LLC > > 80 Carleton Boulevard > > East Montpelier, VT 05651 > > > > (802)223-4448 > > http://thatitguy.com > > > > "Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so > too." > > Voltaire, Essay on Tolerance > > French author, humanist, rationalist, & satirist (1694 - 1778) > > > > Kindest Regards, > > > > Paul Flint > (802) 479-2360 > > > /************************************ > Based upon email reliability concerns, > please send an acknowledgment in response to this note. > > Paul Flint > Barre Open Systems Institute > 17 Averill Street > Barre, VT > 05641 > > http://www.bosivt.org > http://www.flint.com/home > skype: flintinfotech > Work: (202) 537-0480 > > Consilium _ > gratuitum .~. ASCII ribbon campaign ( ) > valet /V\ against HTML e-mail X > quanti /( )\ www.asciiribbon.org / \ > numerantur ^^-^^ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (Darwin) Comment: Use GnuPG with Firefox : http://getfiregpg.org (Version: 0.7.8) iEYEARECAAYFAkpy9EcACgkQX8KByLv3aQ00ogCfcl33oOdkBN/n8V3WdAoTRch1 FUkAnRfdyTWb3qGXzj3H7v/sUuJhKwhJ =Hjkb -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
