All right. I don't even know where to begin.
Does it matter at all that the feedback outside this community to the idea that we're producing a binary distribution called OpenSolaris has almost universally been: "Duh. What took so long?" Does it matter that the initial feedback on the Developer Preview has been overwhelming positive, that so many more people in the world are talking about OpenSolaris--that the approach is WORKING? Does it matter that we literally MOVED MOUNTAINS to get to where we are today.. To create this community in the first place, to free the IP, to reprioritize, to get the vast resources Sun dedicates to Solaris focused on doing their work in the open, to evangelize within the company the importance of continuing to open up such that those outside of Sun can participate in future development on an equal footing? Does it matter that we are inviting the community to participate in a discussion about how to enable broader use of the OpenSolaris brand, to build out a ecosystem of distributions that are compatible, to solve the Linux fragmentation problem before it even becomes a problem? What other company has done this? Shouldn't we be applauded for being willing to take this step--or is this just another case of Sun being held to a much different standard than everyone else? And, yes, does it matter that Sun holds a large stake in this community, PAYS the vast majority of people here for the privilege of being able to spend their days doing what they love, gets flamed repeatedly by many of those same people for our trouble, and in return thinks it reasonable to have _some_ say in how the community functions? Or is that a sign of evil intentions? Do we have to completely abdicate to "be community"? Isn't that taxation without representation? Or is all that insignificant, irrelevant? We haven't given everything, so therefore we've given nothing? I'm sorry, but I just don't get it. Not in the least bit. -ian -- Ian Murdock http://ianmurdock.com/ "Don't look back--something might be gaining on you." --Satchel Paige
