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Questions for Red Hat Co-Founder?
ConceptDog asks: "Co-Founder and current Director of Red Hat, Bob Young, is going to be conducting a presentation at my school. In addition to his presentation, there will be a question and answer session. Considering that my school is rather small (less than 3000 students at my campus), there is a good chance that I might be able to ask a question of Mr. Young. So I'd really like the Slashdot community's help in coming up with a good question to ask. If I get an answer, I'll post what it is, here."
Forgot to mention that he'll be speaking at my College on Oct. 8 So any response I get will be posted then.
"Are you willing to kick Darl right in the _________?"
(I'll let an asking student in the blank)
What do you think of the emmese popularity of Gentoo?
What's Linux's greatest failing, how do you intend to fix it?
How hard is it to get your product bundled with PCs (like from Dell, who does sell RH, IIRC)?
What do you think of the Athlon 64?
Can Superman beat the Flash? (*woot monorail*)
OK, so that last one is a little irrelevent, but I was just watching the Simpsons and I couldn't help it.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Unless someone gets tossed down a ravine by answering incorrectly, it's just not interesting.
"Blue...no, green! AHHHHHHHH!"
I double dare you to ask "How much would it hurt if monkeys flew out of my ass?"
Currently there's no plans to support older versions of Fedora core with errata and security updates, longer than 3 months or so after the next release is out. By the time a Fedora core is stable, the new one will be out, and you either upgrade or start patching everything by hand. It's deliberately not suitable for production use.
Many of us don't need "support" in the sense of calling someone to help me do something. We are the support. Any company with in-house sysadmins that are competent is in the same position.
What is of some value is errata and security backports and patches. That's what my company pays a good deal of money to Red Hat for several RHN seats for the standard Red Hat Linux. We can afford to have lots of servers, because the seats are a reasonable price.
RHEL is not an option. My company is not going to pay $350 per year per server, and be subject to an EULA that is as bad as Microsoft's, that gives Red Hat the right to audit us for license compliance, to make sure we purchased support seats for every server/desktop, just to get security errata, something every other operating system (including most other Linux distros) give for free.
Our other option is to consolidate servers, which presents technical compromises, and reduces the value of running Linux in the first place. One of the key benefits to free software is that we were free to pop it on a server without the license hassle, and fear of audit. If that server became a permanant addition, we could buy another seat for it.
So it looks like we will be slowly moving to Debian on all Red Hat servers. After April, we'll have no reason to subscribe to RHN any longer. I really didn't want to do this. I really like a lot of things Red Hat has done. They have been a big help to the open source community, and with the Fedora project, it looks like they will continue to support the community. I admire them for that.
Red Hat has just left people like me, who work for and consult for small to medium businesses, with no other viable options.
Red Hat has made a liar out of me when I told consulting clients and my employer that a Red Hat 7.3 server would not need to be upgraded for at least a couple years. I do resent that also.
Microsoft doesn't even treat their customers quite this bad. They at least have an EOL cycle that works for businesses, and don't stop providing security updates suddenly on a OS versions that are less than 2 years old with a huge install bases. TCO for Red Hat just shot through the roof.
It's a testament to the value of open source, that I can drop in a replacement from Debian with very few issues. At least free software still beats the pants off MS, even if RH can't anymore.
What are Red Hat's plans here? Why is Red Hat leaving small to medium businesses with so few option?
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
The GPL prohibits placing any other restrictions on the distribution of GPLed software. Thus, the GPL'ed components that come with your most expensive product can be copied and distributed freely to whoever wants it, correct? Isn't there absolutely nothing stopping someone from subscribing to RHN with an ES or AS system, and then distributing a derivative work based on ES or AS, without Red Hat trademarks or non-free code? The GPL overrides any EULA, if it didn't, then Red Hat would be violating the GPL and would not have the right to distribute the software, right? "Pink Tie" Linux is an example of Red Hat that has been stripped of trademarks. Once someone was distributing this derivative RHEL work, couldn't they sell the update service for say $50 a year per seat? Or does the EULA just simply violate the GPL completely?
My question would be, "What the Hell were y'all smoking when you made the decision to rename the non-enterprise Red Hat Linux to Fedora Linux, and could you pass some of that stuff along? Thanks!"
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." - Oscar Wilde
Ask him why all his admin tools are writen in Python? I've got a moral objection to installing Python.
explain why I care to ask a question not of my own design solely for the purpose of posting the answer to my favorite nerd site?
ConceptDog,
Any chance that non seneca college students can attend??? I live in the area and wouldnt mind attending. Do you have any more details.
Much appreciated.
When and how do you think Red Hat will overtake Wintel on the desktop?
What types of alliances will Red Hat be making to bring Red Hat to a PC sold in Best Buy, CompUSA, Circuit City, etc ?
How has the move to Fedora Linux aided your work on Red Hat Enterprise Linux ?
What changes shall we (the Linux community) expect in the near and long term from Red Hat?
Thanks much!
Andrew Schott
Sigs are nice guns
Ask him if he reads Slashdot.
What's keeping Red Hat from trying to market its brand in the mass media? Are you relying on your relationship with companies like IBM to do that marketing for you? Is there a Super Bowl ad in the cards?
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Bleah! Heh heh heh... BLEAH BLEAH!!! Ha ha ha ha...
Ask him to tell you about the time he stole a car.
No, really. It's a hilarious story. I used to work at Red Hat and he told it at a company gathering.
"It is our blasphemy which has made us great, and will sustain us, and which the gods secretly admire in us." - Zelazny
hello, I live in bombay, India. 10 minutes away from the redhat office. currently i am working with an NGO (social work - teaching math to slum children) called akanksha (akanksha.org). Anyway, i was just wondering what your(redhat) position is regarding social work. would you consider helping us out if you can? with a little space for a classroom, and some older computers, for the kids to use; as right now, we do not have any computer labs. it might work both ways, as you should get some positive publicity, it will help to fix the whole open source/ community service idea in peoples minds --> the association of Redhat with Linux and the association of gnu/linux with the community. i was contemplating going to the Redhat office and talking to them about this, but then the ask-slashdot happened, and i thought it would be easier/sensible? to ask you first. i would like to know what redhat's stance is on this... i know redhat needs to be a profitable business first, and a charity later. so if it cant be done , i understand. .... but once microsoft has been beaten, and all of redhat's employees are trillionaires
i will ask this of you again. :P
Dear Bob:
I was in Boston at the time and missed a chance to meet you at your talk at Brookhaven Lab in New York, a year or two before the Red Hat IPO. Now RedHat seems to be well on its way to be what Wall Street identifies with as a dominant Linux company. This took about four years to accomplish, which is pretty impressive in the grand scheme of things. A lot has changed since then. If you were now in your late twenties or early thirties and wanting to bootstrap a long-term business, what would you be work on?
ubiquitin
http://tinyurl.com/4ny52
Have you ever been down to the gymnasium? Have you ever seen a grown man naked?
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
What Happens When a Linux Geek Takes Over a Canadian Football Team ?
* Bob Young, founder of Red Hat and Lulu.com buys Canadian football team the Hamilton Ticats.
* Ticats playbook submitted to SourceForge for development. Fans of the Canadian Football League are invited to submit revisions.
* Initially puzzled by open source strategy, other CFL teams begin using the plays.
* Ticats adopt open-channel Wi-Fi for communications between coaches and quarterbacks using new helmet developed under the GPL, known as the GNU-Helmet. Xs and Os on playbook diagrams are replaced with 1s and 0s. Fans begin to show up at games with laptops to IM the assistant coaches.
* Ticats playbook becomes bestseller .
* First season is devoted to eliminating bugs. Bob Young called an eccentric, fringe player. Headline screams "Playbook Bazaar -- Bizarre!"
* Innovation in CFL play explodes. Stadiums host record crowds. US newspapers run stories, but most assume that the sport in question is actually soccer.
* Bill Gates surprises press by purchasing Seattle Seahawks.
* In the third season, CFL continues to gain momentum. Young brokers a revolutionary agreement with the Australian Football League incorporating new rules and tactics. Games become more interesting. Cable channel TechTV signs contract to air every CFL game. US viewers begin to abandon NFL games in droves.
* NFL sues, claiming a process patent on option plays
* Clear-Channel takes over 90% of US stadiums and inks 10-year contract with NFL. Fans are routinely strip-searched for illicit food and drink items as they enter stadiums.
* Gates responds to decrease in attendance at games by inking broadcast deal with all four networks to air games simultaneously.
* Canada announces increase in immigration. MIT Beavers win Division Championship.
* Electronic Arts announces that "Madden NFL 2007" will be open source. Furor erupts. New version quickly surfaces in which characters can be forced to play soccer.
* NYT article notes that enrollment in youth football programs across North America are up, as are demands for reinforced padding and elastic straps for eyeglasses. 'Football is all about brains!" bellow coaches.
* 2010 - Ticats win Grey Cup for the first time in decades. Average size of defensive lineman is 5'7", 155 lbs.
Tenebris, a publishing blog http://www.salutor.com Fear and loathing on the frontiers of publishing