RFE: Retire Fedora Core 4 only _after_ FC6 has been released.

[Jeff Spaleta]

On 1/18/06, Andy Green <andy at warmcat.com> wrote:
> The more that is done to make Legacy a purely internal action not
> readily discernable (I am sorry about suggesting this reduction in
> profile) the less Fedora will look like an upgrade treadmill and the
> more it will look like a project issuing basically immortal releases,
> this 6 month drumbeat will be only of interest to people looking to
> upgrade by choice.

What really disturbs me.. is that people are installing Fedora without
realizing the EOL timescale and are only complaining about the EOL
policy as their installed release nears the EOL date. This is nothing
but a panic response from individuals who did not take the time to
read up on the established EOL policy.  It's essentially public
blackmail.  Do what i want right now, becaue its what i want or you'll
be sorry.  It's really a shame that vocal opposition to the current
EOL policy shows up at EOL time and not at release time of FC3. Policy
discussions like this should be proactive not reactive.  I'd be much
more sympathetic if this discussion were the result of people reading
over the EOL policy before installing Fedora and making the argument
from a perspective user point of view.  The simple fact is, Fedora
isn't attempting to be the best solution for everyone with a need to
run a linux system. I relish its aggressive focus. For people who
desire to skip releases and who do not want to march to the beat of
the 6 month-ish upgrade/install drum.. it is quite possible that
Fedora Core will not be the correct choice.  Make no mistake, Fedora's
development model will not solve everyone's usage needs.  If the EOL
policy and the Legacy suppliment do not fit your needs.. you should be
making that determination before you choose to install Fedora over
other solutions.  The lesson I've taken away from this is, people
aren't making rational informed decisions at the time the choose to
install fedora.  I'm left assuming that people are installing fedora
based on brand recognition or zealotry, instead of based on informed
opinion as to whether fedora isa reasonable choice for that
installation.

Should the people who have FC3 installed right now, have known exactly
what the EOL policy was before they made the decision to use FC3? The
answer to that is abso-freaking-lutely. Why exactly are the people who
want ot have the policy dicussion now choose to install FC3 and wait
till the EOL date to complain about the EOL policy? Why didn't they
bring this up as part of their personal decision making process for
FC3 installation?  Did the people who are asking for an extention of
FC3 fail to understand the EOL policy when they installed Fc3? Does
this project need to better job of communicating the EOL policy to
people looking to install Core? How exactly do you force people to
read the important documentation  concerning the EOL policy?

-jef