Re: Debian goes big business? [was: Re: Suggestion for RedHat (was: RH vs Debian)]
epgilles@olemiss.edu (Eric Gillespie, Jr.) writes:
> As for what you said about two classes of developers, that doesn't make
> any sense. If developers are willing to work for free now, why wouldn't
> they be able to work for free if some of the core group are getting paid?
> I certainly wouldn't have a problem with it.
>
Me neither. Actually i'd be quite happy if some developers could be
enabled to work full time on Debian stuff and be able to pay their
rent as well. We're not speaking about obscenely high salaries like
B. Gates can stash away nor are we talking about any class hierarchy.
It seems to be forgotten in this discussion that we all would benefit
of an enhanced Debian distribution. And IMHO it would be a mayor
achievement if a for-profit company could bring up the necessary
resources to make Debian a viable product on the market which could
easily compete with a shrink wrapped Redhat or SuSE. As it currently
stands Debian is not at all fit for the average user and non-average
users like we would certainly be quite relieved if we could install
Debian as easily as Redhat or SuSE.
I don't care about being paid for my work at all. I do it because i
like it and can afford to do so - yes, it even costs me quite some
bucks to do so. If my preferred distribution could be made even
better by paying full time developers for enhancing it i would be most
satisfied. We're not only in it for the money. But monetary
recompensations for skilled developers can be quite helpful sometimes.
Just to remind you: the free nature of Debian would even allow a Bill
Gates to bundle his own Debian disk set and sell it for big bucks
without giving back a single dime. This would probably the moment i
would quit Debian. Therefore it would certainly be nice if a more
freedom oriented entrepreneur would take over this business and help
for the betterment of our preferred distribution.
All the speak which has come up in this thread is quite pointless if
nobody stands up and just does it the way he/she thinks it should be
done. No commercial entity can control Debian and its developers no
matter how hard it tries. I for one could easily quit in such a case.
But a commercial entity could certainly take advantage of our work and
give back a maximum. And i certainly wouldn't want to dictate how
such a company should handle their deals because i expect them to know
better. It's up to them if they can cooperate or not.
But we all should be aware of one thing: Talk is cheap.
Cheers, P. *8^)
--
--------- Paul Seelig <pseelig@goofy.zdv.uni-mainz.de> -----------
African Music Archive - Institute for Ethnology and Africa Studies
Johannes Gutenberg-University - Forum 6 - 55099 Mainz/Germany
------------------- http://ntama.uni-mainz.de --------------------
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