RE: Suggestion for RedHat (was: RH vs Debian)
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Christian Lavoie
UIN: 947212
E-Mail: clavoie@enter-net.com
> > Yep. But, IMHO, it has something to do with the feeling that if you
> > work for Debian, you're working for the community, including yourself.
> > If you work for Red Hat, you're giving money to someone who doesn't
> > care about YOU, only it's bank account. Actually, that's the feeling I
> > get.
>
> I agree with your point mostly. I would much rather contribute to a
> non-profit community that I belong to than to a for-profit company
> that I am not a shareholder of. My only quibble with your point is
> that I get the impression the RedHat guys do actually care about more
> than just profit. Now you could be cynical and suggest that they are
> only pretending, and only contribute to the open software community in
> order to keep in the good books with linux users and hence help their
> bottom line. But is it not possible that they genuinely do appreciate
> what linux has done for them and want to give back to that community?
I agree I've been a bit too harsh. Maybe they actually do care (and they
probably do, at least the programmers) about the community. But's let's
face it, their bank account is the number one priority on the list. I was
intending to say: Let's not forget we're not their first priority.
Ultimately, we'll lose if they got to choose between money and the
community.
> I don't blame the RedHat people for wanting to start up a company.
> People have to eat, and if you want to earn an income from working on
> Linux, then starting a linux based company is probably the way to do
> it.
Agreed. I can't blame linux companies, especially Red Hat whose giving back
so much. But then, without any single technical reasons, I'd rather see
Debian as THE major linux player than Red Had, Caldera, SuSE or Slackware.
I'm a strong moral supporter of Debian and all those single floppy linux
dists. Why? Cause I beleive they ultimately are the one that promotoe free
things.
Nota Bene: Although Debian states free software as modifiable software, my
own personnal definition also encompasses the cost. I'm a student, and I
face my budget every other day. =P
> I have a suggestion for RedHat however. Now that they are well
> established, why don't they turn their company into a non-profit
> organisation in which there are paid positions? That is, RedHat would
> continue to charge similar prices for CDs and support etc, and this
> money in turn would be used to pay the salaries of employees, but the
> organisation as a whole would not seek to make profit. All RedHat
> users could apply to become members of RedHat (and perhaps pay
> membership fees) in exchange for voting privileges and discounts etc.
I think it'll stay a dream. A quite beautiful dream, one must confess, but a
dream nonetheless.
Christian Lavoie
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