Fedora Desktop future- RedHat moves

[Ric Moore]

On Sun, 2008-04-27 at 08:20 -0700, Paul Shaffer wrote:
> --- On Sat, 4/26/08, Francis Earl <lunitik at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> >Why should they pay around $15 per user for software the user didn't pay for, just so they can play codecs that aren't relevant to the people making them their money?
> 
> It's called "mindshare."  And since when do you define relevance for Redhat's customers?  Sounds rather presumptuous, to me.  You mention the mindshare concept later, but don't seem to understand it works both ways.  And it's a huge advantage in a competitive marketplace.
> 
> >There are even legal ways to get codecs (fluendo) and other equally easy ways.
> 
> What's easy to you is not easy for the vast majority of users.  Computer use for virtually everything these days is taken for granted.  Computer knowledge about how they work should not be.
> 
> >Today, Linux is big business, and is really making strides even on the home desktop.
> 
> Ya think?  Ok "strides" compared to what - the over 90% share M$ enjoys?  Methinks we got alot more stridin' to do.
> 
> >...makes an effort to ensure the industry can't rape users anymore.
> 
> I suppose Redhat more prefers neglect to rape.  Or maybe passive coercion.  But this approach is doomed to failure as we've already seen by Ubuntu's success.  Redhat's ability to ensure anything in this industry is doubtful and becoming less a factor all the time as long as they and people like you decry the "ignorant" society and people who can't add a repo.  Fedora has become a niche oddity in the Linux distro field because they view the vast majority of potential users as scapegoats for some holier than thou OS delusion.

OTOH, according to definition, "Power and Authority has an equal and
attendant amount of Respsonsibility Any difference between the two is
the degree of dysfunction." 

Or, since Red Hat has assumed the role of a major player and contributor
in the Linux world, if they fail to be responsible by protecting
themselves legally, they then may become unable to serve any longer,
mainly through lawsuits that could fatally damage the company. Red Hat
has some of the most skilled kernel developers on it's payrolls. If the
company fails, we lose them as well. 

So, it's something to consider. I'm sure their legal staff does
everyday. Failure to do so would be dysfunctional.  Ric
-- 
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