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LinuxExpo Report
It's a pretty interesting show. As tends to always be the case, I can't really escape the show floor and actually see anybody speak, but there is enough going on here to scream about.
We're sandwiched in the back between the Free Software Foundation and Debian. Its a nice wall of geekdom- the suits seem to be staying near the front where all the big companies with actual budgets and furniture are located.
All the big usual suspects are here (Red Hat, Linux Hardware/VA Systems, Compaq, IBM) plus accross from us is a company called Patmos (they have parallel systems and very comfy looking leather couches scattered throughout their booth). There are several vendors with massive clustering and parallel systems- practical ones for web serving and stuff instead of silly things like predicting the end of the world or weather.
Nobody is giving away really steller stuff (except the ALS boys with their excellent OS Wars T-Shirts).
The most entertaining news is the homeless Turbo Linux models (can someone send a URL with pictures?). They hired models to distribute promotional materials at the show- but they got thrown off the floor for doing it outside of allowed spaces. So they sent the models to the front of the local hotels. All those attractive women without a home- its enough to cause total insanity at a conference with so many geeks.
Less amusing, but still entertaining is the rumor of Legal Action between Linux Care and Red Hat. The former is distributing a parody of the 3com 'Simply Palm' ads with photo of a woman in a bra covering her backside with a Red Hat software box. The slogan reads "Simply Supported". Apparently the Red Hat lawyers sent cease and desist orders to the Linux Care lawyers. I'm waiting for a scan of the picture and the letter- that hopefully will be up soon.
Ah well, thanks for to the LinuxExpo folks for giving us a chunk of real estate to sit on at the floor. More as it happens.
Key word: rumour of legal action. This is unconfirmed. Don't get so uptight until we see some confirmation. Red Hat has historically been a good company, and I won't believe something like this until there's some evidence.
I think Red Hat certainly has a right to ask LinuxCare to stop doing this. I think LinuxCare has a responsibility to then stop. I don't think either side should seek legal action, though.
Red Hat is a trademark that they have to protect. They must raise a stink if someone uses it without their permission or lose the trademark. Since their name is the ONLY thing they own, they have to be serious about it. The law, unfortunately, has not room for witty. And from the sounds of them, these ads do not parody.
On the one side are the commercial giants, the companies that will save Linux from the depths of obscurity, companies like IBM, Oracle, and even (gasp) Redhat. On the other are the ardent purists, the folks who deem freeware to be always free, who cringe at the thought of people paying for their beloved work and who fight the idea that money should be made off others' efforts.
If 1998 was the year the Linux took the world by storm, 1999 will be the year that the corporation takes Linux by storm. It's already begun to happen and people are already complaining. The big names are up front. Small upstarts are using hot models and naked pictures to sell product. In the back sit the timeless veterans: Slashdot, Debian, FSF. Who will win?
If people stop worrying about who is making money off Linux, everyone will win. Companies are working within the established framework to do what they need to do: make money. Linux programmers are still hacking away, developing strong systems and code that works. This code is still free. Does it hurt you to know that Redhat is moving forward with plans of world domination? No, it helps you, because they're putting money into the development of Linux, as are IBM and Oracle. Why? Because those companies will have better systems and products if the platform they're working on is more stable, more open, and more extendable. Companies don't want to commercialize Linux, they want to commercialize products. Companies love Linux because Linux deals with standards vs. Microsoft which deals in proprietary ideas.
If Redhat sues Linux Care, it's business. If IBM pays more for the front seats, it's business. Linux is a business, not a product. Let the companies make their money. Let the developers develop the foundation. Seeing IBM and Oracle front this Expo is a great sign for Linux's viability in the marketplace. Seeing Redhat flex its corporate muscle is a great sign for Linux's strength in the business world.
Keep hacking. Keep programming. Enjoy the fruits of your labor and let others build upon your foundation. If the Linux community fights this, I'm afraid that they're going to be reduced to same scratching-to-stay-alive heap as Apple.
I find more disturbing the fact that there are Linux exhibitors hiring models and cheesecake ads, both perfect illustrations of sizzle-over-substance marketing. This is particularly ironic for a Linux show; Linux has gotten as far as it has by being a better system, not by slick marketing.
Huh? In 1999 we got:
-Linux 2.2 (this year)
-New Major versions of every distro.
-Loki Software and Civ: CTP
-Mozilla will be mostly done by Fall, Gecko
already kicks butt.
-RealAudio G2 player (in beta)
-VMWare
-Commercial support/investment/reaffermation from
several large companies, including Dell, IBM,
Oracle, Compaq.
-StarOffice 5.x (and released as no-cost software)
-Gnome 1.0 (this year)
-EGCS as the standard compiler
-WINE is going like gangbusters.
-Linux is being discussed by people in suits as an
option, whereas it was dismissed almost out of
hand last year.
-Many more things I am forgetting plus lots more
to come
And one note. Mozilla isn't a flop. The project has a really great CSS1 compliant engine (gecko), and it is on schedule. Plus several other companies besides AOL/Netscape have recently put programmers on it, and the number of 'outside' programmers is coming up.
Remember, they threw away a LOT of the code and rebuilt the thing from scratch. It may be taking them some time, but when it is finished, it will be a VERY nice and accurate platform for Web based applications, as well as being a complete web browser in itself.
Life is still good in the land of Linux.
Sometimes, I wonder why Debian, Slashdot, etc. are even invited to these conventions.
Linux is still a "hot" name going around. But I wonder how many people at one of the "big name" booths, take IBM for example, even understand what's going on, what Linux is about, or have even used it for more than a 24 hour time period...
I live down near Austin, Texas, where the only Linux-related convention is that thing ZD is going to put on later this summer. Admission is around $500, explaining Open Source software concepts to the suits.
Wow. Closed doors and open source. What a combo...
I enjoy working with Linux, doing my little projects, working on development software, submitting patches whenever I get time. But, lately (esp in the past year), everyone's been jumping on this bandwagon because it's what's "in". I believe most of the commitments made by the suits lately almost as much as you can believe that most men listen to Brittany Spears because of her musical talents.
It's one thing to actually contribute to the movement. It's another thing to set up a front and milk it for all it's worth.
Get off the f***ing bandwagon and try pushing it for once.
I am a female geek trying to decide which distro to go with. If i saw that simply supported ad and thought Red Hat approved, i would not choose Red Hat. I certainly would not use the services of a company that advertised that way. Not unless they had a hunk in a jock strap ads too :-)
Red Hat has every right to say STOP THAT.
--- If you don't want to know the answer, don't ask the question.
Red Hat suing LinuxCare? God. I know it's been said at many points during Linux's evolution, but for me, this is the end of the innocence.
Commercial Linux distributions didn't bother me, since nobody violated Linux's GPL in the process. Fractiousness didn't bother me -- where's a programmer who won't argue? Non-open-source tools for Linux bothered me a bit, but I wasn't being forced to buy them and preferred the open-source alternatiuves on their own merits.
However, the Linux community always had an appealing irreverence. People in general are far too serious nowadays; you can pretend to be serious, but you can't pretend to be witty. The LinuxCare spoof ads are witty. They should have been left alone.
--
Some keywords for the NSA in the Lord of the Rings universe: One Ring bind find Sauron quest Nazgul freedom