[NTLUG:Discuss] @#$%^&*! redhat up2date!!!!!

[Chris Cox]

I've been listening to this thread...

One thing that's important to remember is that
GPL (and some other free-like licenses) allow
Red Hat (or anyone else) to do exactly what
they are doing.  That's sort of the whole point
of GPL.

With regards to community vs. corporate....
If people want to indirectly support a
corporation (with no compensation) via
a particular community group... heck.. it's
a free country.

I think it's kind of neat that the Fedora
community is willing to help Red Hat become
more successful.  IMHO... it's better than
the debt instrument that Red Hat recently
engaged in.  This isn't a situation where
the big corporation took over the little
guy... the little guy, in a way, begged and
pleaded for Red Hat to get more involved
in what they were trying to do.  Red Hat's
taking of Fedora to Fedora(tm) and the
laywer/NDA/license/etc stuff seems to be
a favorable move by the vast majority of
the original Fedora team.  I really haven't
seen any upset Fedora folks over all of this.

With that said, Red Hat definitely makes it
quite clear that Fedora(tm) is completely
owned and CONTROLLED solely by Red Hat.
Seems to be some difference of opinion within
the Fedora team on that... but if you read
the legal documentation from Red Hat, Fedora lives if
Red Hat says so... and it dies if Red Hat
says so.  Red Hat has final sign off authority
on anything that now happens inside of
Fedora.  It's a community of developers still...
but their primary purpose is to support
and develop for Red Hat... for free.

Red Hat
doesn't have to use anything Fedora(tm) produces,
but it can and it can guide the development
process of Fedora(tm) as needed.  And
while it may seem strange that people would
want to do all of the work without reaping
monetary benefit... just remember that even
before Fedora was Fedora(tm), the community
pretty much had that as its primary goal.  It's
just a little more solidified now.  Also, realize
that numerous Red Hat developers do contribute
directly in that community ... and they are indeed
paid by Red Hat... even if not directly for
their work on Fedora (they have a pay check coming
in that allows them to work on Fedora on the side).
Anyone working on Fedora, in a way, really works
directly for Red Hat.  Some with monetary
compensation from Red Hat (but not for working
on Fedora??), others with just a pat on the back
(such can be the nature of free software).

It's somewhat unclear whether or not Red Hat
employees during "work hours" are allowed to
work on Fedora... but it seems very likely.
This may encourage more Fedora developers to
become full time employees of Red Hat.  With
Red Hat's advertised growth, seems likely that
Red Hat will hire many of the current primary
project maintainers...  so where's the community??
Well... a good portion may actually live and work
directly for Red Hat eventually.  Kind of weird
isn't it??  Only time will tell if this is true.
But statements by Justin F. on this list certainly
tend to support the notion (though Justin is
not directly employed by Red Hat today, but does
contribute directly to the success of Red Hat
via the Fedora(tm) project).  I could definitely
see Justin becoming a full-time Red Hat employee
if he so chooses.

So whatever Fedora is or isn't, it's clear that
Red Hat owns it and that it is designed to make
Red Hat THE dominant player in the Linux
marketplace (a claim that Red Hat has made btw
since the very beginning of RHAT and still
says... over and over... even today).

It's interesting.... let's see what all happens...

Maybe we'll all be using Red Hat/Fedora someday....