George Bonser wrote:
>
> On Wed, 10 Mar 1999, Ed Cogburn wrote:
>
> > I don't see Deb spending a lot of time playing politics. I don't
> > see Deb developers spending a lot of time on other mailing lists
> > or newsgroups proselytizing Debian over other dists. For the most
> > part, we do our thing, and let word-of-mouth bring new people to
> > Debian. Whether Debian can survive the long run with just
> > word-of-mouth promotion is an open question, though.
>
> I see a lot of squabbling on debian-devel and there is doubtless more
> unseen in debian-private about political issues from every conceivable
> angle. It can sometimes account for a full day's traffic. Is that energy
> wasted? I think it is to varying degrees. Debian will sometimes get so
> bogged down on an issue the rest of the world doen't give a rat's pair of
> hips about or on someones novel interpretation of what they think
> something in a license might mean if looked at from some goofy angle. But
> that is part of what makes Debian Debian.
I think I'll start lurking on debian-devel to see whats being
said. Not having seen whats going on in debian-devel, I'll agree
here.
>
> Red Hat sees its job as being the definition of Linux. When someone
> thinks Linux, you are supposed to think Red Hat. They do not particularly
> CARE if it is GOOD Linux but that it is THE Linux. I can't find the
> article that appeared in the past several days but it is the one comparing
> Red Hat with Heinz ketchup.
>
> They are a business. That means their goal is to sell things that people
> want (or convince them they want it) and make money. Their goal is to make
> the average person who has NEVER tried Red Hat before and is not much of
> an internet junkie grab the Red Hat box when they go to the computer
> store for the first time to buy Linux.
Agreed.
> What WE need to do is emphasize that nobody ever gets fired for thowing
> away Red Hat and upgrading to Debian.
If it really gets to this point, it'll be too late, I fear.
---------------
Actually I wish I could have rescinded my previous post. First I
wasn't aware of the fact (pointed out in the last debian-news
newsletter) that Debian had its own booth at the recent Linux
conference. My statement about Debian relying primarily on
word-of-mouth was obviously very incorrect. Not that I disagree
with this, this is exactly the kind of 'visibility' we need. I
thought this would be the kind of action a commercial company
using Deb as a base distribution would do for us.
Second, my remark about 'proselytizing' isn't entirely correct,
although I was referring to Deb developers. I've proselytized on
Debian a few times in various Linux related newsgroups, and if I'm
doing it there are bound to be others.
I'll take some time and read the 'politics' going on in
debian-devel, as you say, before I comment about this topic again.
--
Ed C.
