LWCE Wrapup

An anonymous reader writes "Extremetech.com reports that: 'Computer scientists from think tank SRI will present a novel take on distributed computing at LinuxWorld, all in a search for a little lost penguin.' For more information on Centibots, head over to the Centibots Project homepage." ReadthePaper writes "I just read a great interview with Jon "Maddog" Hall of Linux International." And finally, Hawkxor writes "Sun Microsystems VP Jonathon Schwartz demoed Sun's new desktop-oriented Linux distro 'Mad Hatter' and 3-D Desktop Environment 'Looking Glass' at LinuxWorld. Sounds pretty cool."

Comments

Re:Typical Sun Quote

[Valar]

Because it is important to the open source community that you have the proper attitude. If you take, and use open source software for commercial gains, and ensure that the actual open source versions stay one step behind you are basically stealing. Maybe not legally, but I think, to some extent, morally. You are using the efforts of developers that you do not pay for corporate. Now, that said, Sun does have a pretty decent record, early on, of contribution. However, lately, they are asking more what open source can do for them than what they can do for open source. Yes, this is a perfectly natural thing for a company to do, but we should hardly praise Sun for the idea of taking Linux, adding a couple of proprietary features and then using it on their workstations and desktops, so that they can get free development.

Re:Microsoft Booth Fun

[strider3700]

That is funny, however I'm wondering what microsoft was doing there? Are they using or at least working with linux these days or was this just another chance to spread FUD?

Re:Mad Hatter = Red Hat Distribution

[Anonymous Coward]

posting as AC to preserve my job

it's SuSE for the desktop & Red Hat for the servers.

Sun is being smart & not getting locked in to one distro.

IIRC that strategy is serving IBM fairly well

Re:Base Linux Distro?

[The Phantom Buffalo]

I googled for "Looking glass desktop" and the first result was "Install New Icons in Caldera's Looking Glass Desktop. Coincidence or not?

Re:Typical Sun Quote

[oldmanmtn]

By referring to this as a "typical Sun opinion", it's pretty clear that you came to this with an pre-existing bias. I think you're reading more into this than is really there, and you're the one who is missing the point.

I think the point he is trying to make is that in the end, software is all just bits on a disk. There is nothing about the development process that makes open source software magically better. Good software always takes hard work, thorough testing, and talented developers.

It's pretty clear (to me at least) that he is really talking about the typical customer or end user - not a developer. For somebody who is looking to roll out 1000 "Mad Hatter" desktops to secretaries and/or phone support people, the "free beer" aspect is more important than the "free speech" aspect. This isn't an environment where they are going to be upgrading the OS, applications, or windowing system with the latest tinderbox bits every night. They want something that works well and doesn't cost too much. They don't care whether it was developed by a corporate engineering team, an open source project, or an infinite number of monkeys.

Other way round

[Anonymous Coward]

Linux creator Linus Torvalds may be the main mouthpiece for open source, but another open-source evangelist-John "Maddog" Hall-is working hard behind the scenes to spread adoption of Linux.

I would say that Maddog is the "main mouthpiece" of OSS, and that Linus is the one who works behind the scenes.

References
[1] Attended a talk by Maddog earlier this year. (Believe me, he enjoys talking)
[2] Read "Just for Fun", Linus' autobiography