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LinuxPPC Inc Becomes Non-Profit

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the well-thats-an-easier-business-plan-allright dept.

LWN has an interview with Jason Haas where he talks about LinuxPPC and going non-profit. He raises some good points and says some interesting things. Good luck to ya Jason! Someday I shall acquire a titanium powerbook, I shall bask in the glory of your toil. I hope LinuxPPC stays around for a long time.

8 of 41 comments (clear)

  1. Re:2.4 for PPCs by AArthur · · Score: 4

    Linus' 2.4 doesn't even compile on the PowerPC. Even PowerPC trees that have 2.4 are quite on unstable. HFS is buggy, and HFS writes will cause kernel panics. Some iMacs randomly crash with Linux 2.4. And there are lots of other problems...

    So waiting on 2.4 is probably the safest, and smartest thing to do. Linux 2.2.18 is still a better choice for the majority of users.

  2. Re:Ambiguous answer in my opinion... by johnnyb · · Score: 3

    I think your misunderstanding - He wants to retain control over his work on LinuxPPC. What's wrong with that? He's not saying he wants to force other people to do anything, just that

    a) he wants to do LinuxPPC for a living

    and

    b) he doesn't want greedy stockholders telling him what to do

    Free Software is about both control and no control. You control everything, but you don't control anything of anyone else. So, I don't see the inconsistency.

    --
    Engineering and the Ultimate
  3. Big deal... by Rombuu · · Score: 5

    I mean Red Hat, Caldera, VA Linux and all those guys have been non-profitable for a long time now...

    --

    DrLunch.com The site that tells you what's for lunch!
  4. Next up... by swordgeek · · Score: 3

    I'm just waiting for Amazon to announce the same thing.

    "Now that's a joke, son!"

    --

    "People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
  5. Flip side... by Christopher+B.+Brown · · Score: 3
    The "publish or perish" cycle whereby SuSE and RHAT and friends regularly produce new releases in order to get some cash flow from CD sales still applies here.

    After all, if the paychecks of the LinuxPPC folk depend, to great extent, on CD sales, then it is in their interests for there to be some degree of "churn." Frankly, your phrasing of:

    They have to sell distros and support to pay the workers, so they need to get a product out the door.
    applies pretty much just as much to LinuxPPC, "the nonprofit" as it does to RHAT et al.

    Consider it stipulated that the factor of third party shareholders deciding they want an extra million in sales goes away; that doesn't make the factor go away altogether.

    In contrast, the would-be counterexample you cite, Debian, can "afford" to have rare new releases because a new release doesn't affect their finances at all because they don't directly sell CDs. That's not the same scenario that LinuxPPC has.

    --
    If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
  6. Free? by PopeAlien · · Score: 4

    But it has been enough to cover the costs of eight staff members.

    And the internet connection, and, oh, beer. An essential part of Linux development.

    You mean the beer's not free?

    --
    air and light and time and space
  7. More Information Available.... by acaben · · Score: 5
    There's also an extensive article and interview on MacSlash today, which talks about the non-profit set up and a the fact that LinuxPPC will be using their own INIT scripts now instead of porting Red Hat's.

    I think the move to a non-profit organization is more fitting with the ideals of the Free Software movement, and it's going to let LinuxPPC find capital through donations and grants, but still be able to control the distribution instead of giving power to VC's. A very nice move.

    Jason's a great guy to talk to, and really a lot of fun to work with. I think we'll be seeing good things from the LinuxPPC gang for a long time.

    (And Taco, check out last night's episode of The Mac Show. They talked to a guy from the Int'l Titanium Assoc. and he talked about how to anodize the TiBook's case to create some a cool custom looking PowerBook.)

  8. Titanium PB by rho · · Score: 4

    Taco hath said:

    Good luck to ya Jason! Someday I shall acquire a titanium powerbook, I shall bask in the glory of your toil. I hope LinuxPPC stays around for a long time.

    Why? That Titanium PB is made for OS X -- try some BSD-lovin, and you'll never go back to the Dark Side of the Source, Linux.

    (gentlemen, start your flamethrowers!)

    --
    Potato chips are a by-yourself food.