On 10/31/07, Shawn Walker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > That's my point. If you want to be able to prove *why* we shouldn't > have a distribution called OpenSolaris you must demonstrate the harm > it would cause as the benefit has already been demonstrated and talked > about. > > Not to be offensive, but other than hurt feelings, I don't see the harm in > it. >
I agree with Joerg (for once--just kidding!) in that an official "OpenSolaris" distribution will harm other OpenSolaris-based projects. Here's why. As Ian Murdock eloquently states in the third paragraph in this very thread: "... - one answer to that question is clear to me: OpenSolaris MUST be something new users can download and install." This, of course, is meant to drive incoming eyeballs (new users) to the obvious choice, the Official OpenSolaris distro. So the eyeball will, instead of being puzzled by the myriad arrays of available distro, and instead of reading the descriptions and reading about Nexenta's debian-like packaging and ShilliX's Unix on USB, they will sheepfully click on the big green Download OpenSolaris button. * And they will not go to the other distros. And since distros need people, new people, to thrive, the Official OpenSolaris distro will be disproportionately advantaged in the draw of new users compared to other distros, who will wither away. People's decisions will not be based on the technical merit of each distro, after careful examination of the characteristics of each distro and based on their need. Rather, they will become Victims of Marketing and be funneled into OpenSolaris-that-was-Indiana. So, does it harm other distros? In the sense that they will be starved for new users, definitely. * (I'm going to argue that people who run Sparc will find MartUX all by themselves. That's assuming that distro can still exist sans Martin Bochnig.) -- Chris Mahan http://www.christophermahan.com/ [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] cell 818.943.1850
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