[NTLUG:Discuss] Redhat Offerings -- the Red Hat bashing tourisback!

[Cameron, Thomas]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: discuss-bounces at ntlug.org [mailto:discuss-bounces at ntlug.org]On
> Behalf Of Kevin Hulse
> Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2004 3:52 PM
> To: NTLUG Discussion List
> Subject: Re: [NTLUG:Discuss] Redhat Offerings -- the Red Hat bashing
> tourisback!
> 
> 
> 
> --- Chris Cox <cjcox at acm.org> wrote:
> > Kermit Jones wrote:
> [deletia]
> > As with all USERS of free software, Red Hat benefits
> > from the work
> > of the community.  Red Hat had a paid support model
> > before, and they
> > have one now.  The price may be a bit higher now,
> > but that's the
> > price of support.
> > 
> > Besides, Red Hat employees regularly contribute and
> > help guide the
> > whole Fedora(tm) process.  It's wrong to say that
> > Red Hat has
> > abandoned the community of free software.
> 
> It's not so much that as they are putting up a poor
> fascade as the lemming designated spokes-entity for
> Linux in general. If PHB's weren't involved, there
> wouldn't be much reason to pay attention to Redhat's
> foolishness.

Resorting to insults - THAT'S a good way to prove your point.  You're unable to provide *any* evidence of this supposed evil that Red Hat has done and every argument you've made has been countered logically and calmly several times, so now it's insults.  Nice.

> Everyone doesn't have to be subjected to Redhat's
> attempts to pretend that it's Microsoft or Sun. It's
> simply unecessary.

Yeah, Red Hat is a lot like Microsoft.  Because Microsoft is known to take free software, make it better/easier to install and manage, and redistribute it with source code.  Oh, and Microsoft *frequently* collaborates with its competitors to put forward open standards (LSB).  And of course Red Hat has bought up a lot of their competitors and killed their product lines.  Let's not forget all the time that the DOJ has spent looking into Red Hat's business practices!

PUH-LEEEEEZE.

> No, Fedora is a "supported version" of Fedora.
> 
> It is has been forked into something that Redhat
> is no longer comfortable in associating themselves
> with directly.

OK, sorry, I just have to interject here for a second with a small dose of reality.  Where do you find out about Fedora?  Hrmmm...  Let's see - that would be at http://fedora.redhat.com.  Isn't that a Red Hat domain?  And lemme look for a second, what does the first line of the first paragraph on that site say?  "The Fedora Project is a Red-Hat-sponsored and community-supported open source project."  Oh, yes, and when you look at each of the projects listed, what are the e-mail addresses?  xyz at redhat.com.  Where do you file Fedora bug reports again?  Ah, right - http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/, another Red Hat domain.

Yeah, I can see how you would get the impression that Red Hat is distancing itself from Fedora.

> > this, Red Hat's
> > support pretty much was NON EXISTENT for the
> > consumer based
> > product.  The reasons projects like Fedora (pre-tm)
> > were created
> > was to fill the HUGE non-support gap created by Red
> > Hat for
> > their consumer product line.
> > 
> > If you want community based support, there's
> > Fedora(tm).  If
> 
> In this context, "community based support" is 
> equivalent to NO SUPPORT. 

If you have a free (as in beer) distro, are you saying that you should get some sort of support other than free (i.e. community) support?  I don't get it.

I give up, Kevin - your attitude seems to be "don't confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up."

I will say that I *do* understand how some of the FUD was started when Red Hat dived into the entperprise market and started Fedora.  It was confusing and a little scary.

But the reality is that Red Hat has always been and continues to be an exemplary member of the Linux community.  It is wrong to paint them in any other light.

--
Thomas Cameron, RHCE, CNE, MCSE, MCT
Assistant Vice President
Linux Design and Engineering
Bank of America
(972) 997-9641

The opinions expressed in this message are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of my employer, Bank of America.