I read ideas like this from time to time about
different subjects, and this one actually does mention
or allude to some of the infrastructure changes that
need to take place to support a move in this
direction. What I see in the Linux community is what
I term as "choice overload". We have so many
opinions, and passions that it becomes increasingly
difficult to standardize. Mix money and livelihood
into this and then you see the fractures appear. I am
passionate about open source free software, but I also
realize that there is no money in it. To get money to
come in, you have to have something that nobody else
does, and that nobody else can get for free. The
money that exists in the Linux world right now is a
trade for the effort, and intellect it takes to
download, install, configure, and maintain the Linux
operating system, and applications.
One of the reasons why MS has been so successful is
that they are very good at converting effort and
intellect into cash.. ie. you give us cash and you
don't need to know how to install, configure and
maintain our operating systems, or approved
applications.. we'll do that for you. The Linux
community can learn from that.
Here's the pitch: Create a distro that encompasses
the best that Linux has to offer. User-Linux,
Hardware neutral operating system that supports
community supported applications. IMHO, the operation
system at leas should be as totally open source as
possible. Then, give it away in Walmart. The
commercial ventures should be making their money by
supporting and funding commercial applications. Most
commercial applications get their start from open
source projects anyway, and the model for dual
licensing already exists. There is always the trade
between effort/intellect and cash. I think Linux
Distro companies got it wrong.. they shouldn't have
tried to differentiate themselves based on the support
and proprietary installers they have, but instead they
should differentiate themselves as to which
Application projects they support as a dual license,
GPL / Proprietary.
The will need to be much in the way of compromise to
make something like this happen, and the people most
likely to get involved are those that do not have
their livelihood bound to the success/failure of such
an endeavor. So Warren + Debian + Perrens? + the
Linux community, develops a systems and then they will
need to find funding for packaging and distribution.
As a Systems Administrator and Programmer here's what
I would like to see:
-Kernel hardware platform code
-abstraction layer with frozen api to kernel
Kernel
-device driver api == commercial and open-source
device drivers
-MultiMedia api == X Windows, Alsa and whatever
-window manager api == KDE, Gnome, or whatever
and to wrap it all up in a neat little bundle there
will need to be a universal installer, and package
management system that can handle both proprietary
package support and GPL'd packages from a variety of
sources.. ie each Linux distro will need to run the
standard package support servers.
And when everything is done what will we wind up with?
We will have a free,free operating system with
standardized support infrastructure that both
end-users, corporate suits, and programming power
users will be able to use and enjoy. The money will
come from the commercial apps sold to end-users and
suits... how? End-users don't have the intellect or
effort to pay for the applications they wish to use,
and suits want guarantees and someone to blame for
things going wrong.. ie. they don't have the
intellect, and effort to pay for the applications they
wish to use. And that leaves the linux community
alone to develop, use, and support applications free
of charge and free as freedom.
And there's my Christmas list. Do you think Mepis is
a good start? Sounds good to me, so far. But, I
think in order to be successful, some thoughts need to
go into addressing how money is going to be funneled
through this project. Involvement with SUSE, or
Xandros may be the way to go, but I would be extremely
careful to maintain the direction of the project.
It's one thing to say "it would be nice if.. yada
yada" and quite another to formulate a direction that
leads to the merging of entities and projects that do
not share the same goals. SUSE and Xandros will have
there own agendas and because they have the money,
they will try to change the direction of the project
to favor their own goals.
I'm sure I've not said anything that hasn't been said
before. Maybe my ramblings will inspire someone...
I'm intrigued enough to give Mepis a try. I've been
looking for a system that is easy to install, and
maintain.
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