Come on, Chicken Little, "probably"? Are all things that you are otherwise pre-disposed to believe probable? There are no announced details on numbers, but the Register seems to think this is about operational staff in Europe and Asia (not that I want to promote their authority, but to the extent that anyone is claiming to have any information about details, however questionably sourced, they don't gel with your preferred views):
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/07/oracle_sun_layoffs/ First you want to insist that, because you can't find the word "OpenSolaris" as a headline rather body item that this means that OpenSolaris will shortly cease to exist. You don't consider whether, say, OpenOffice is being treated differently because it has a far different brand history. Instead, anything that backs your pessimistic predisposition is interpreted as a sign of impending doom and gloom, even if this requires you to step over facts. Sure, you might prefer that Oracle amplify the message of OpenSolaris support, but there's nothing inconsistent in saying that OpenSolaris is part of how Solaris is developed and subsumed under its brand. The paradox you do not consider is that OpenSolaris is safe precisely because it is indissociable, part of how Solaris is made rather than an utterly distinct product in its own right. To the extent that the community wishes further security, sniping about Oracle communications policy misses the crux and is fundamentally counter-productive. What is important to the level of security people are demanding isn't so much creating user groups and making the OpenSolaris community a province of Oracle marketing but getting involved in how the product is developed and developing competencies and a governance function that lets the community resolve concerns, like projects to replace binary blob content with community code or simplifying the process of source distribution of code that Oracle propagates more slowly into its repos. (Not that I think user groups are useless, just that they are something that the community ought to be doing to get the credibility to work with Oracle on more fundamental concerns.) Or to put it more fundamentally: OpenSolaris community participation should not be reduced to enthusiasm alone, and trying to engage with Oracle by threatening less enthusiasm is simply a variation on a mistaken theme. What this misses is an ambition to "work on" OpenSolaris as something more and other than a viral marketing campaign. Waiting around for a release and complaining that it seems to be taking a suspiciously long time isn't a reasonable way to move things forward. A way forward will be when people are prepared to come to Oracle with constructive feedback on community-driven governance and contributions. On 8 Jun 2010, at 10:30, Edward Martinez wrote: >>> >> If you want to spread fear about oracle & >> opensolaris, find something >> concrete you can talk about instead. Like "They just >> laid off half the >> development team" or you know ... something worth >> while. >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> opensolaris-discuss mailing list >> opensolaris-discuss@opensolaris.org >> > > they probably just did: > > Oracle-Sun layoffs to reach thousands as Oracle slashes more jobs > > http://searchoracle.techtarget.com/news/2240019447/Oracle-Sun-layoffs-to-reach-thousands-as-Oracle-slashes-more-jobs > -- > This message posted from opensolaris.org > _______________________________________________ > opensolaris-discuss mailing list > opensolaris-discuss@opensolaris.org _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list opensolaris-discuss@opensolaris.org
