[OT] Re: FC4 or FC5

[Sean]

On Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:54:30 -0700
"jdow" <jdow at earthlink.net> wrote:

> And the ripoffs are the folks charging for support or for training
> Spoo Certified Whazittdroids who can pretend to know as much about
> Spoo Linux as the similar droids for Microsoft products pretend they
> know about the Microsoft products. For everyone else it's a hobby
> unless they care to work for one of the "Spoo" companies.
> 
> Note that there is nothing WRONG with it being a hobby or with
> hobbies in general. But to take it more seriously than you might
> take a model railroad or a hand made remote controlled B-52 model
> with real jet engines and all is silly. It does mean, "If I need
> Z and nobody has already created a thing that does Z I get to do
> it for myself." It also sometimes means, "I think I can do better
> than Z so I'll produce a ZZ adding my work to Z." Either way it
> is a hobby for most people. It's real for some who work for Spoo
> Linux Distro or for EFF or OSS directly. For the rest of us, do
> not count on earning your bread and butter off your clever hobby.
> (And do not TOUCH the source code if you want to generate a commercial
> product that comes close to the part of the source code you have
> touched in the past. If it looks like you copied something you're
> toast.) Meanwhile, the Spoo companies are ripping those hobbiests
> off in a way making money off the hobbiest's work. For those who
> use the software it can be a remarkable free ride.

Huh?  That jaded outlook doesn't jibe with reality.

There are many legitimate companies providing solutions on and support
for Linux.  They're not ripping anyone off, they're often quite happy
to feed patches back into the Linux ecosystem.  It's not just a hobby
for them.  For instance IBM now provides support for Linux systems housed
in their data center.. etc.  And I fail to see how offering training on
Linux is ripping anyone off either.

There are countless examples of how Linux isn't just for hobbyists any
more.  Many people make a good living programming on Linux, not working
for any "Spoo" company at all.

And as China has chosen Linux as a big part of the future of their software
industry there are potentially a huge number of people who will be using
Linux as their primary O/S, not as part of some hobby.  Same holds for other
developing countries.

Time to rethink that Linux-as-only-a-hobby attitude.

Sean