Re: more from Linux Foundation
> James> We have been personally invited to 'partner' with these
> James> guys. Their motive is clear - money. It is amazing how
> James> many groups think they can come in and control a piece of
> James> Linux.
>
> Ben> Hmm..
>
> Brian> I represent the Linux Foundation which is a non profit
> Brian> organization designed to help the integration of Linux into
> Brian> the business community.
>
> Ben> Non profit -- how can their motive be money?
>
> James> Take a look at their web page. The test costs US$120. Just
> James> because a company is non-profit doesn't mean there aren't
> James> people making a lot of money from it. Many non-profit
> James> organizations have people making very nice 6 digit
> James> salaries.
>
>I really see no problem with them making US$120 off this test. If
>there's opposition to it, why not come up with a free test?
To be commercially accepted it can't be free. Also there is a certain amount
of administrative work involved in testing that would be too much of a drag
for non-commercial testers (you have to watch the people do the tests and
check IDs etc).
>I think the point is that most businesses unfortunately still view
>tests that cost money as an effective way of weeding out people who
>are not serious about their jobs. If these folks want to make a Debian
>certification test, why not just let them? If we're unhappy with
>the results, we can come up with a free certification plan.
>
>There's really nothing wrong with people making money off of
>Debian. Heck, if someone wanted to start a whole corporation dedicated
>to the support of Debian Linux and charge $5,000 a year for their
>support, I'd be perfectly happy for them to do so.
>
>Isn't the point of Debian that you can do *anything* with it,
>including making money off of it?
I agree. I believe that the "Sylvan Prometric" is the same company that's
behind the "Prometric" certification tests on OS/2 and programming that I did
last year. Those tests were really tough (I failed some tests when I knew
that I was regarded as an expert in those fields), but quite well set out. I
am unsure how much of the content of the tests came from IBM and how much
came from Prometric. But if they come up with similar caliber of tests for
Linux then I'll pay my $120 a go to sit them (and probably fail a few if
they're as tough as the OS/2 ones).
I know that there are some Debian developers who are students and don't have
a lot of money, if they work with Prometric to develop Linux tests then
everyone will gain. But I really believe that this comes down to a freedom
issue. If some Debian developers want to earn money working for Prometric
then no-one should try and stop them. The only issue is whether the tests
should be acknowledged and/or promoted by SPI and other organizations. But
they can go ahead and run the tests even if SPI don't like it so that
shouldn't be an issue.
--
This is what they pay me for.
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