Re: tlug: The Myth of Open Source Security

[Christopher Sekiya <wileyc@example.com>]

(I know better than to debate economics with Steve, especially when jetlagged ...)

On Fri, Jun 30, 2000 at 11:13:24AM +0900, Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:

> And if you think that's the rebuttal, _you're_ missing the point.

Nah, I was just commenting on the 'rebuttal' that I was expecting.

> Salaries (value for value) are going to draw developer resources away from
> some of their current activities.

Sure, and that's a damned shame.  Especially in this case.

Like it or not, davem is the portmaster for the sparc port.  When RedHat bought
davem, RedHat bought the sparc port (although I'm sure that he'd dispute that;
the direction that the sparc port has taken tells a different story).

Is this good for Mister Miller?  Sure.  He's getting paid to hack on linux code.

Is this good for RedHat?  Absolutely.  When they have a support issue, they can
escalate to the guy who (in all likelihood) wrote the code.  If he doesn't
produce, he doesn't get paid.

Is this good for linux users?  Maybe.  If the user in question has late-model
sparc hardwrae.  Otherwise, no -- because RH pays davem to work on tier one
products ... support for the older sparc machines suffers thereby.

> Fscking _IBM_ and _Sun_, BIG businesses, not to mention the usual list of
> suspects like "Red Dog" Linux, "Tub-o'" Linux" and "Sousa" Linux, big
> businesses themselves, are bankrolling the effort.

Right, that's okay.  I don't see very much similarity between the bankrolling
of the i18n project and the bankrolling of the sparc linux port.

> _you_ could spend a little more time on advocacy.  Not everybody can see
> what you see, you know.

Until the masses realize that the coolness of linux is actually the coolness
of UNIX, I fear that my words will be wasted.

... it's been a good week for cynicism ...

-- Chris
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Next Technical Meeting: July 8 (Sat)  13:30  Place: LinuxProbe Hall
Next Nomikai meeting: August 18 (Fri) 19:00  Place: TBD
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
more info: http://www.tlug.gr.jp        Sponsor: Global Online Japan