Re: An open letter to the debian community
On Sun, 5 Dec 1999, J C Lawrence wrote:
> There are a great many people for whom the only value particular
> Debian brings to the table is apt-get and friends. They have no
> interest in religion, no interest or strong values relating to the
> variations in freedom of DFSG vs OSD vs <whatever> -- they just want
> a box they can build and administer easily, and Debian offers them
> that by providing a system they can upgrade and extend over the
> wire, and potentially apply that same distribution and
> administration model acros a lab of hundreds of machines.
Well said. The computer is a tool. People often use it to get real work
done with real deadlines. Real money depends on this work. Debian offers
the best ENVORONMENT, so far, for maintaining and supporting software for
Linux in the enterprise.
Political values of the distribution mean little in that context. It
stands on its TECHNICAL merits and not its POLITICAL ideology. In this
environment, commercial software is often needed to get the job done.
Products such as IBM's application servers, java stuff, things from Corel,
make Linux useful in the enterprise.
The enterprise is what makes the difference between a hobby or research
project and something you can send the kids to college with. Mortgage
banks, grocery stores, and schools require real money. They do not give
any discounts for having contributed to Free software. Debian may be great
from a political standpoint but if it will not get the job done at work,
it is not likely to ever be used there and WILL be replaced by a
distribution that targets that area.
> And even more interestingly, Debian needs those people. They are
> the users of the world and Debian cannot surivive without a user
> pool to draw new talent from as the old leaves thru attrition.
Yup. A lot easier for a newbie to Linux to become a maintainer if that
newbie starts out on Debian at the start. If a business uses ebian in its
infrastructure, a good number of pretty bright people can become exposed
to its methods quickly.
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