Novell Buys Suse was --- A distribution bytes the dust!

[jack at coats.org (Jack Coats)]

I spent the summer of 1999 in Boston on Y2K gig, and really enjoyed the
community.   From what I saw where is quite a community spirit that could
support a BCL Distribution.  To nail down the economics, I would suggest 
using some of the folks at local universities (Babbson seem pretty good 
for entrepenural things) and see it they could help generate a business
plan.

Some libraries, community centers, or other places around (check out SCORE, 
folks are associated but not part of the SBA) to find a 'business incubator' 
to get some room, possibly seed capital to get started.

Most of the work could be done at home/remotely.

I would suggest determining the niche that you really want a BCLDist to fill! 

Desktop, Lindows is doing that OK, but could be done differently, and it is 
commercial.

Server, well RH will still be there and SUSE.

Possibly a 'small business' Linux server/desktop.  A good server base, with 
firewalls, etc.  A central database system, mail, file storage, backups, that 
could be managed remotely or locally.  With optional diskless desktops.

Possibly a 'entertainment' distribution with TIVO functionality that also 
works as a desktop.

Possibly a 'family server'.  Similar to small business but 
with 'entertainment' and game server posibilities.

Also think of setting up 'payfor updates' similar to the KRUD distribution 
that tummy.com sells.  A full set of CDs every month of about $65/year with 
the latest updates installed :) 

... Just some thoughts. ... JC



On Tue, 4 Nov 2003 15:52:04 -0500 (EST), Rich Braun wrote
> Well, we've got a whole lot of under-employed and unemployed Linux 
> geeks here in Massachusetts.  What would the economics of a "Boston 
> Community Linux" distro be, if we recruited a bunch of us to build a 
> distribution, support it with a QA lab, and operate email-only tech 
> support?  Could we find a sponsor to set up the lab?
> 
> Or is it truly impossible to break-even supporting software at all 
> these days?
> 
> Seems like a pretty good opportunity for a new startup.  Millions of 
> folks would pay at least a token amount to avoid Red Hat monthly 
> fees and/or stay out from under the likes of Novell.
> 
> Personally, I'm content to just compile everything from scratch--am 
> not really a big fan of distros anyway.  But I'm quirky that way-
> -starting out with Linux in '92, there were no stinkin' distros.  In 
> order for Linux to keep growing, it has to be nicely packaged and 
> kept up to date.  Dozens of new apps come out every year.
> 
> -rich
> 
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