Distro comparison

[invalid at pizzashack.org (Derek Martin)]

On Tue, Oct 21, 2003 at 08:10:02AM -0400, David Kramer wrote:
> > Which two companies are you referring to?
> 
> Sorry.  KDE and RH.

K, that's what I figured, but I wasn't sure.

> > As for "mangling" Gnome and KDE, about all they did was change the
> > default themes and some settings.  So?  Change 'em back.  Have they
> > actually changed anything which prevents either desktop system from
> > working as it does with KDE or Gnome defaults?  (This is not just a
> > rhetorical question.)
> 
> I found on my RH9 install that even going to the default theme left some 
> images redhatized.

You can always change them...

> > Realistically, the KDE and Gnome people have no legitimate gripe here.
[snip] 
> Whether KDE and Trolltech have legitemate gripes or not I don't know, but I 
> know that I do.  The icons are childish and too similar to each other to 
> instantly indicate what they represent.

Well, everyone's different.  I actually like the icons, but then again
I delete most of them off my desktop anyway, and as I said above you
can always change them...  

> > The mp3 player issue has nothing to do with the MPAA or RIAA.  It has
> > everything to do with the fact that the MP3 coding/decoding algorithm is
> > patented, and distributing it or using it requires a (paid) licence.
> > Red Hat does not want to pay, and does not want to put its customers
> > at legal risk.  This may be inconvenient, but frankly it's the right
> > decision.  For now, the patent holders have said they won't pursue
> > those who use mp3-related technology in free players, but there's
> > nothing to stop them from changing their mind tomorrow...
> 
> ... and retroactively suing for past distribution?

Sure, why not?  That's what SCO is doing, and they weren't even the
original patent holders.


> Yes, RH9 is out there, and suffers from the aforementioned problems, whether 
> you think of them as legitimate or not.  But Red Hat's decision to move to 
> a model where releases become unsupported so soon means that before long I 
> will be in the same boat.

Probably, but as I hinted before, I think you're going to see all the
major vendors moving in similar directions as they struggle to stay
profitable.

> I couldn't agree more. But I think abandoning the personal user is
> bad business for them, because it's the geeks getting hired at
> companies that are bringing Red Hat into corporate America.  You

I don't think they think of it as abandoning the personal user.  But
the average personal user doesn't pay for support, or even buy the
boxed set.  They just download it, or get a copy from a friend who has
a better Internet connection...  ;-)  They still more or less have a
personal product, on which we now have at least one positive review
on-list.  It's just that they aren't spending as much on supporting it
as they were before, which they shouldn't need to, since that class of
users is basically self-supporting.

> just aren't going to see a huge percentage of CEO's saying "We need
> Red Hat Linux here" without the geeks pushing for it and making a
> case for it.  And if they don't have familiarity with it, they're
> not going to do that.

Maybe, but from talking with people at RH, I got the impression that
they get most of their big accounts at big companies by direct
selling.  That's what they want.

> > You seem to be suggesting that this is a shift in philosophies
> > which you find personally offensive, where in reality it is
> > nothing but a business decision, made to help ensure their
> > continued existence.
> 
> Not offensive, I'm just not sure that the release will have the same
> consistency and quality without paid Red Hat employees organizing
> and testing.

My understanding of the new process is limited, but I thought they
still were doing that...

Anyway, I appreciate your perspective.  I'm playing devil's advocate
here on a lot of these points, but I've been thinking some of the same
things, and while I still think RH (Fedora, I guess) is worthy of
consideration, I'm undecided about where to go next after RH9 no
longer suits me.  Fortunately, I suspect that will be quite a ways
off, especially since I'm now teaching English, and not doing anything
particularly tech-oriented.

-- 
Derek D. Martin
http://www.pizzashack.org/
GPG Key ID: 0xDFBEAD02
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