A tip of the hat to the end of a distro as we know it.

[Matthew Gillen]

David Kramer wrote:
> Red Hat gives up on Fedora Foundation
> 4/6/2006 10:16:57 AM, by Ryan Paul
> http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060406-6535.html
> 
> "In an  open letter distributed to the Fedora community earlier this
> week, Red Hat employee and Fedora project leader Max Spevack states that
> Red Hat is no longer interested in establishing an autonomous, nonprofit
> foundation to manage the Fedora project. Instead, Red Hat will revive
> the Fedora Project Board, which will include five Red Hat
> representatives, four members of the Fedora community, and a chairman
> appointed by Red Hat who will possess veto power. Dominated by Red Hat,
> the Fedora Project Board will now have complete authority over the
> Fedora project, including budgetary control."

I'm not sure what you were implying.  Fedora is not going away.  The
"Foundation" is.  From the open letter:
--------------------------

WHY NO FOUNDATION?

When we announced the Foundation, it was with a very specific purpose, and in a
very specific context.  The announcement was made by Mark Webbink, who has been
the intellectual property guru at Red Hat for a long time now.  His stated goal
for the Foundation: to act as a repository for patents that would protect the
interests of the open source community.

....

What we weren't counting on was the rapid progress of the Open Invention
Network (http://www.openinventionnetwork.com/press.html), which serves a
similar purpose for businesses in a much more compelling way.  Without going
into too much detail, it became clear to us that OIN is going to be the
800-pound gorilla in the patent commons space, and we were eager to join forces.
--------------------------

So the primary motivator in "giving up" on the Foundation is that the
"Foundation's" main purpose was being filled by a broader effort.

Matt