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Red Hat Opens Lobbying Office Near DC

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the subscribing-to-highlights-magazine dept.

wiredog writes "From Government Computer News comes this story about Red Hat's new lobbying office near Washington DC, and mentions that RHEL 4 will have Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 4 certification."

39 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. I was hoping they'd be in DC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    In Foggy Bottom, so that we could call them Fog Hat.

    1. Re:I was hoping they'd be in DC by 0ptimus · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Best part is, Vienna is not really very close at all to the District, and is the last Metro train stop on the track heading west out from DC. A lot of contractors' headquarters do work in this area, but maybe it was just the only place that RedHat could handle the rent.

  2. Suggestion by wombatmobile · · Score: 4, Funny

    Adopt pre-emptive strike doctrine.

  3. Woo hoo! by grub · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now Red Hat can play DC like the big boys!
    Bob Young: Thanks for meeting me for lunch, Congressman.
    Congressman: My pleasure.
    Bob Young: [passing envelope under table] Have you thought about the silly bills the proprietary software people want passed?
    Congressman: [counting cash] Yes, and frankly Mr. Young, I think Open Sauce is the only way to go!
    Bob Young: Source. Open Source.
    Congressman: Gotcha.

    --
    Trolling is a art,
    1. Re:Woo hoo! by garcia · · Score: 3, Funny

      He's certainly "pretty" enough to be a politician stroker.

      You gotta love the fact that they seemed to have digitally enhanced the whiteness of his teeth.

    2. Re:Woo hoo! by Ridcully · · Score: 3, Funny

      They digitally removed the fangs.
      I think he does look like a younger Christopher Lee.

    3. Re:Woo hoo! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      > Not sure if I'd want to have such a strong >oxidiser in my mouth...

      Why would he put oxidizer on his genitals?

    4. Re:Woo hoo! by Odin's+Raven · · Score: 4, Funny
      You gotta love the fact that they seemed to have digitally enhanced the whiteness of his teeth.

      It's okay - I'm sure they used The Gimp to do it. :-)

      --
      A marriage is always made up of two people who are prepared to swear that only the other one snores.
    5. Re:Woo hoo! by discordja · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I've lived and worked in DC for a while now (for a non prof lobbying group to boot) and can tell you it's a much different beast than it's made out to be...tho still a beast.

      Most congressmen don't interact with the lobby groups directly. An office will have gobs of LAs (Legistlative Assistants) and they will in turn do most of the contacting and oft times a lot of the deal brokering on some issues.

      Most lobbying is nothing more than smart manouvering. You get their staffers drunk, pump em for information, then go to their constituents and whip em into a frenzy when you find the dirt.

      --
      I stole this .sig
    6. Re:Woo hoo! by Blue-Footed+Boobie · · Score: 3, Funny
      Well, if they did it explains why it looks so obvious...

      *ducks stones*

      --
      DAMN YOU OCTODOG! DAMN YOU TO HELL!
    7. Re:Woo hoo! by AviLazar · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You meant to say:

      *Congressman snickers* "Surely you jest? This doesn't even scratch what BG is forking out. Hell this doesn't even cover the lunch bill...maybe you should start charging for your software, and run a few patents to ensure others can't copy it."

      --

      I mod down so you can mod up. Your welcome.
    8. Re:Woo hoo! by MikeBabcock · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm sorry, you think that RedHat's 1.96 billion dollars makes them irrelevant compared to Microsoft's 287 billion?

      (when do I get my billion?)

      --
      - Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
  4. Lobbying.. by danheskett · · Score: 5, Funny

    Lobbiny is bad! Corrupt corruption! Evil money is influicing politics.

    This is wrong. Where is the department of justice? Lobbying is not even taintamount to bribery, it is bribery!

    What? Ohh... sorry.. thought this was an article about Microsoft, SCO, or Sun... my bad.

    Go RedHat!

    1. Re:Lobbying.. by bgs4 · · Score: 2, Interesting
      I guess that's funny and all, but as someone who has posted on slashdot before about the evils of lobbying, I can tell you that, as much as I like to see microsoft's lobbyists get some competition, professional lobbying still sucks no matter who is doing it.

      The fact is that many congresspeople after leaving office become very highly paid lobbyists. What this means is that their influence on government goes to the highest bidder. If you have enough money, you can essentially purchase your very own Influence on Government (tm), influence which is too expensive for the vast majority. There's no two ways about it, that sucks for a democracy. You might be skeptical that former congresspeople and other highly paid lobbyists actually have all that much more influence on government than your average joe, but the fact is that they wouldn't be highly paid if they did not.

      If we can outlaw professional sex workers, I think we can surely outlaw professional lobbyists.

  5. Welcome To The Big League by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Interesting
    RHEL 4 will have Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 4 certification.

    While Microsoft will have nothing of the sort, unless they've lied through their teeth, yet the US Government still will used hundreds of thousands of instances of Windows on PC's throughout countless bureaus.

    RedHat will lobby, "Look, we have a totally transparent operating sytem, if it is in any way compromised it will likely be fixed in less than 24 hours and we can work with you to handle logistical details of patching all necessary computers. In the long run we're cheaper, reliable and immediately accountable." To which, a government all to used to chutzpah and hubris over the past few years will reply, "We don't like transparency, haven't you learned anything by now? Clearly our Great Benefactor in Redmond is a better patron and we totally believe him when he tells us that insurgents are behind exploiting security holes."

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    1. Re:Welcome To The Big League by Jheaden · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yes but RedHat doesn't have the PR department that Microsoft has nor do they have the cash that Microsoft has.

      Money makes the world go round, or in this case gets the government to buy from them.

      Though one would think with all the bad PR that Microsoft get for their security problems, someone in the government would wake up and reconsider.

  6. Business is business by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    a company is a company
    no matter what they make
    no matter what they sell
    no matter who runs it
    no matter who works for it
    no matter how exceptional they may seem or may be
    business is still business,
    they always turn out the same way in the end, always.

  7. It's a nice start by chris09876 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I really can't think of any bad that can come from this. Hopefully it will improve the visibility of Linux for people who make decisions. In certain cases, people might not even know that linux is an option. Hopefully this new division can help fix that.

    The article does make a good point with the Exchange servers though. It's been mentioned here before..., but Linux does need some better connectivity with Exchange to help sell some of the people who already have large systems already set up be more comfortable with the idea of Linux.

    --
    I store my recipes online (the way nature intended)
    1. Re:It's a nice start by pclminion · · Score: 3, Insightful
      I really can't think of any bad that can come from this.

      You can't? What about how it strengthens the ridiculous practice of corporations lobbying for corporate interests? Government is supposed to serve the people, not corporations. No matter what Red Hat's motives are.

  8. Just Redhat?? by Foofoobar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Shouldn't the OSDL have an office so that IBM, Redhat and all the others can lobby together instead of separately?

    Is there even an OSDL lobby?

    --
    This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is mine.
    1. Re:Just Redhat?? by danheskett · · Score: 2, Informative

      You assuming that OSDL, IBM, and RedHat share the same goals, which I believe, is totally incorrect.

      RedHat is campaigining in part to replace big old Unix boxes, many many many of which are AS/400 boxes manufactuered, maintained, serviced and supported by IBM.

  9. Still Not Right by treehouse · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sorry, I don't like Linux companies trying to get special favors from the government any more than I like Microsoft doing it. Now you might argue that Linux, being the underdog, deserves to try to balance things in Washington. Using that argument, it would be okay for a poor kid to shoplift because he needs it. Doesn't make it right.

    1. Re:Still Not Right by LWATCDR · · Score: 4, Informative

      Depends on what those special "favors" are. Sometimes it is as simple as educating the official. Think of it this way. Microsoft says. "If you do not stop Open Source software you will loose thousands of high paying jobs in you state."
      Red Hat says. "If you should demand open and documented file formats so that your data can not be held hostage." Imagine if Microsoft went out of business like Eastern Airlines, or American Motor Corp, or "former large employer from that state goes here". Think of all those documents that could be lost be cause you can not read them on you new software!"

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
  10. this leaves me perplexed by m2bord · · Score: 4, Insightful

    on the one hand...i like the fact that there is a company there that can counter microsoft's lobby.

    but on the otherside...i firmly believe that this is what is so horribly wrong with our government.

    lobbying by corporations seems to have made lawmakers more responsible to the lobbyist rather than the constituent

    --
    Is it 5:30 yet?
    1. Re:this leaves me perplexed by mmkkbb · · Score: 2, Insightful

      lobbying by corporations seems to have made lawmakers more responsible to the lobbyist rather than the constituent

      that's because the constituents don't get off their asses and make their voices heard.

      --
      -mkb
  11. Lobbying war vs. Microsoft... by ari_j · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If they hope to out-lobby MSFT, they'd have better luck putting their money into a toilet and pushing the flush handle. I hope they have a legitimate strategy to justify this move.

  12. How long will it be before RHEL 4 "hits the street by nemaispuke · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I find the comment about RHEL 4 will be released being evaluated at Common Criteria EAL 4 interesting, considering RHEL is not listed as a product in under evaluation yet (http://niap.nist.gov/cc-scheme/in_evaluation.html )! That should take about six months mimimally, so when are we looking at RHEL 4 being released?

  13. I sure hope... by GillBates0 · · Score: 4, Funny
    Redhat highlights Linux's faith-based approaches to task scheduling and memory management.

    Tux loves Jesus too! Kidding...kidding.

    --
    An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
  14. Most Common Criteria evaluations are worthless by Wesley+Felter · · Score: 4, Informative

    For example, consider the tale of the Windows 2000 EAL4 evaluation.

    1. Re:Most Common Criteria evaluations are worthless by Isao · · Score: 4, Informative
      CC Evaluations are widely misunderstood, but are actually relevent and valuable if you know how to use them (which it seems most don't).

      The key to the CC is the Security Target or Protection Profile. The EAL number indicates how rigorously the claims in these documents have been verified. (The article linked covers this.) If the claims in an ST or PP are important to you, higher EAL's provide more assurance that what is claimed is in fact true. If you require something that isn't in the ST or PP, then even an EAL7 means nothing to you.

      It seems that most people think of the EAL as a simple "security score," which isn't the case.

  15. I work for a DoD contractor by wiredog · · Score: 4, Informative
    Getting ready to install RHEL3 on my box, getting a workstation in next week which we will install RHEL3 on, and the Zaurus should be in on Tuesday.

    There's lots of Linux in government, but it's mainly on the server side. Or with agencies that don't want to leave a paper trail of what they've bought 9and from whom) and who consider protecting their data to be the highest priority.

    --

    Best Slashdot Co
  16. About fricking time by TheGrapeApe · · Score: 3, Interesting

    With M$ tethered to the viciously unpopular offshoring issue, this move just makes sense; "How can you justify giving taxpayer dollars to companies that are hell-bent on shipping your constituent's jobs overseas?". They should have been asking this question a _long_ time ago.

  17. Re:Still Not Wrong by wombatmobile · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sorry, I don't like Linux companies trying to get special favors from the government

    Special favors? That's a whole other thing. Establishing a lobbying office is just one step towards getting seen and heard (as opposed to remaining unnoticed).

    For a Linux company to obtain special favors would require more than an office.

  18. Pessimism... by IOOOOOI · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I hate to point this out, but historically when a company reaches this level they are more likely to be assimiated into the status quo than to change it.

  19. Open Lobbying by persaud · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Require public Internet disclosure of every meeting between an elected official and a lobbyist.

    Think of it as CVS for Lobbyists.

    Check in. Check out.

    1. Re:Open Lobbying by iamacat · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It would be reasonable to disclose that the meeting took place, but probably not the contents. If a politician initially considers to do something illegal or stupid due to his ignorance of the subject during the meeting and then educates himself and makes a good decision, he deserves more credit, not less for actually caring about doing his job. Yet, it would be extensively used in smear campaigns during elections.

  20. Redhat actively supports F/OSS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Remember that although they do not provide free binary downloads of their OSes almost everything they aquire thru their profits from other companies they open source.

    Also they are providing proper enginerring Q&A analysis to the source code of Linux and is providing a aspect that previously was thought to be lacking in OSS software. (who would pay to do the boring code review?)

    So far Redhat has been mostly good for Linux and Linux has been mostly good for them.

    I use Debian though.

  21. red states = redhat users? by frank0618 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I can see it now...the msft states vs the redhat states...umm maybe not :-)

  22. White Teeth Linux by Yo+Maing · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Hi, I'm Paul Smith. I have a new linux distribution called 'White Teeth Linux' I'd like to sell you today."