You Wrote:
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2002 09:02:30 -0400
From: Ronan Heffernan <ronan.heffernan@shawus.com>
To: slug@nks.net
Subject: Re: [SLUG] School Project - Not a Troll...consider Debian
>
>
>>If you are referring to SuSE as a company working with me, your
>>incorrect...they have been very easy to work with. As you are aware, they do
>>not release their ISO's for Intel...you need to buy them. At the price they
>>charge, I'll eat the cost for my customer because I gave them a price, and
>>I'm sticking to it. Corporately, SuSE has a great channel program...at least
>>they have been great for me.
>>
>>
>
>I'm glad that's the case. Weren't they considering per box licensing
>some time ago? Who other than you supports SUSE in the area? If you sell
>SUSE to this school system and you decide to take your business and
>leave the state, who will support them? Maybe it's just that buy
>American side that says to give RH another chance, and stay as far from
>deb/slack as you can. (Unless they have dedicated support staff.)
>
I'll offer local support for SuSE! Seriously, anyone who can't support SuSE, can't support Linux. If you are that addicted to RedHat's custom tools, then you should not be allowed within 100 feet of any mission-critical system.
LOL, I'm not going to disagree with that, however it's not the point. This school is very likely not going to be able to take care of itself for some time. If you want to offer to support SUSE, hey that's great, but who are you? Will you have time to drop whatever you are doing and run to them when the server pukes? I highly doubt it.
This argument also highlights a weakness that could destroy Linux as a viable corporate platform. If people are focusing on any distro (even my beloved SuSE) to the point where the fact that a system is RedHat or SuSE or Debian is more important than the fact that it is Linux, then the wonderful robustness of the community turns into a fragmented fork-fest. Look at the
I disagree completely. If Debian, Suse, RedHat, Mandrake and every other Linux distributor out there would fall in line and support a standard the point of this discussion would be moot. However, RedHat is *THE* distribution all of the big boys are supporting. That's just how it is.
UNIX fragmentation of the 70's and 80's; it can happen to Linux if we let it.
The major distributors are allowing it to happen. Take UnitedLinux, when did they invite RH? Not months, but days before they announced. Sorry, RH contributes more to Linux than all of the other distribtion houses combined. (IMHO)
Tying your companies fortunes to RedHat is no safer than tying your companies fortunes to Microsoft. One of our strengths used to be, "It
I disagree, we are talking open solutions not closed proprietary garbage that comes out of software houses such as MS.
is Linux; it will survive the bankruptcy or animosity of any and all corporations." The
Linux is Linux is a kernel created in 1991. Sure, it'll survive. No one is arguing that.
moment you start churning-out RHCSEs who are as enslaved to RedHat as MCSEs are to Microsoft, you are crippling the engineer, and his customers.
Since when does an RHCE not have to be educated? (Hint, that's what you are emplying.) No RHCE will ever be crippled because they are working on an open system.
If you declare that it is significant that these people dominate the marketplace, then you are crippling anyone who believes you. Everyone repeat the following mantra until you lapse into nirvana, "Linux is Linux. I am a Linux Guru, not a corporate puppet. Linux is Linux..."
Linux is Linux, I am a Linux Guru that enjoys a large paycheck. Linux is Linux, and I will continue to support the Distribution that everyone else uses so I will continue to get a large paycheck. In all my years as a Linux person (Circa 1996), I have only ever heard of *1* SUSE installation and it was on a personal machine. Every other system I have come in contact with was RedHat based with the exception of the short stint watching Progeny Debian puke on itself as I was testing it on a Netfinity 4500. The market isn't wrong, RedHat is larger than all the other Linux houses out there combined for a reason.
Finally, if 'buying American' is more important than choosing a distro that preserves your OpenSource rights, then choose Windows. Every red-blooded American knows that Linux is some commie plot from Finland :-)
No, Windows is a commie plot from within. ;-)
-Andrew
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Fri Aug 01 2014 - 12:47:32 EDT