Dont take this personally (no really dont!) but - > First, RedHat would get an infusion or resources, both human and financial.
Thats very true. 10 0000 more PR representatives with synthetic tits and excellent �1.50 a minute telephone-support answering style. > Second, the RedHat guys would get rich (hell don't we all dream of that > sometimes?!) Who could be-grudge them that. They'd only be selling out Open Source entirely. <sarcasm>I mean. I'm sure they presently have aquired nothing in the way of financial reward to date for distributing other people's intellectual property. </sarcasm> > Third, I thought that there was a desire in the Linux public to create a > distribution that could be used by everyone's grandmother? Isn't that > partially what Redmond Linux (sorry don't have the announcement to hand) is > trying to do? If your idea of a broadband appeal distribution of anything is as plastic-wrapped, buggy, shoddy, half-compiled but very colourful crap for mega bucks then sure. Absolutely. I mean this is LINUX isnt it? Isnt that what people pursue the (in all fairness not exactly competative at present) LINUX as a desktop OS for? As I understand it Redmond is protogenic. I (this is what I understand by their spin to date) see Redmond as an attempt by experienced LINUX developers to get more attention shifted away from the server/network end of LINUX appeal and get more moderately computer literate windows users who wouldnt otherwise be too interested to suck it and see. Oh, and they want to make a living from doing it. What I dont see Redmond as is a sell out of Open Source, a cynical MS clone (despite the disgusting XP apeing superficially) bent entirely towards making vast amounts of revenue at minimal expense. Egad man! AOL is the very epitamy of 'shiny crap'. Nothing they do is good for the internet or freedom of expression, freedom of choice. They are un-democratic through their Borg like assimilation tactics, their advertising alone is subversive, misguiding, propogandist and patronizing. If that represents what they'd do with a brand like Red Hat Lord only knows. Companies like AOL were the ones who brought you 'healthy' option TV Dinners and 'healthy' cigarettes. Nothing they do is for the good of anything but their own bank-balance, thats fine. Thats capitalism. Thats not nor hopefully never will be LINUX. If a major mega-corp got posession of a major LINUX distributer they would just out-finance anyone else in Open Source. Within 5 years there would only be one, maybe two distros and at least ONE of them 'AOL LINUX' would certainly be utterly crap and cynically loaded so that they could oblige their 'free sharing' policy by letting people download alpha crap and 'test' it for them by doing so. The 'good' stuff would ship for �20000 on 4 CD's. Also .. what happens when you get 40 million corn-fed AOL users dumped on the LINUX scene? Who knows but it cant be pretty. Yes I do have a chip on my shoulder with regard AOL. They bought out Compuserve under a stern, public promise to improve and specialize it. Within a year they had stripped it bare, removed all the 'forums' of any worth -which were its sole seller really- and buried the corpse in a shallow grave of beurocratic impotence. They aquired ICQ. Thats gone completely to pot. Log in now, dont even enter any details and you'll get porno spam within 20 minutes. Some people here get 3-5 an hour. </rant> It could be bad news indeed. S'all. L ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Stoddart" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, January 19, 2002 6:30 PM Subject: Re: [rl-users] AOL Buying RedHat? > I'm not saying that I agree with AOL's desire to buy RedHat, but there are > three things that spring to mind. > > First, RedHat would get an infusion or resources, both human and financial. > > Second, the RedHat guys would get rich (hell don't we all dream of that > sometimes?!) > > Third, I thought that there was a desire in the Linux public to create a > distribution that could be used by everyone's grandmother? Isn't that > partially what Redmond Linux (sorry don't have the announcement to hand) is > trying to do? > > Thanks > Mike > > On Saturday 19 January 2002 06:41 pm, Mark Petersen wrote: > > Oh, great! Why not! They've screwed up just about everything else > > surrounding the internet, and personal computers in general. I guess they > > may as well do in the linux world too! I can just see the commercials on TV > > now! > > > > <computer illiterate person on street>"Wow! AOL Linux is so easy! We just > > love it! And all our friends use it too! We can chat... send email... Even > > grandma uses it!"</computer illiterate person on > > street>...<voiceover>"You've got Linux!"</voiceover> > > > > I just hope Linus doesn't hang himself from the chandelier over this one... > > > > -Mark > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: Lanny > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sent: Saturday, January 19, 2002 5:02 PM > > Subject: [rl-users] AOL Buying RedHat? > > > > > > This looks strange > > http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5064-2002Jan18.html It talks > > about AOL buying RedHat. > > > > Lanny > - > -- > rl-users list. To leave, send "unsubscribe" without quotes in body of > message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > - -- rl-users list. To leave, send "unsubscribe" without quotes in body of message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
