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The Red Hat Diaries
slaker writes "Salon.com has a review of Bob Young's new book "Under the Radar",
as well as some commentary on the spectacle of developers versus
business-types." Several interesting comments on the article. Hafta add the book to my TODO queue (course since its behind Snow Crash and The Diamond Age it might be awhile, what with my hours and hours of freetime)
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It sure would be nice if these links worked. Salon.com is found here.
Brad Johnson
Advisory Editor
Brad Johnson
As it happens, I don't think there's any of my code in Red Hat. But if there was, I would be happy that Bob Young and the rest of Red Hat became millionaires on the back of it. Unlike many of us, they actually got off their backsides and collected large quantities of the available free software, and put it together into a handy distribution. I guess you probably weren't around in the early days, when we used to have to download, compile and install everything ourselves. Why shouldn't they make money from saving us time and effort by collating stuff onto an easy-to-use CD? If your idea of free software is preventing people from making money from it, then your view is different to mine. Remember: free speech, not free beer.
"The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike." -- Delos B. McKown
Not a bad article. When companies like ZD* are writing hatchet jobs on anything and everything Linux, Salon is writing thoughtful pieces on the political and social aspects of Linux. Unlike ZD* articles, I will actually click a link that leads to a Salon Linux article, or any other interesting sounding Salon article.
Salon Gets It(R). Not too many do.
I won't deny that we pay attention to circulation figures, but that's not the only reason we cover free software so closely. It's a rare case of instance when a story that we think, editorially, is really important,-- socially, politically, economically -- also turns out to be very popular with readers. So we're running with it. I'm pretty much following this beat exclusively.
And while the slashdot effect is indeed impressive, over time the percentage of readers for a particular free software story that have been referred directly from Slashdot has been declining, which leads me to believe that some people are now checking us independently to see what we have to say.
Editor, Salon Business & Technology
Salon.com
"Little did he know that the seeds were being planted for him and his future company to revolutionize the computer industry and electronic communications for businesses and consumers worldwide."
Bob Young sure thinks alot of himself. I hope that this was said by the "omniscient third person". Personally, I don't see how he's revolutionizing anything. In my eyes, he's just another greedy "Internet" millionaire making money on other people's work.
I'm a few pages short of finishing "Under the Radar" and was considering submitting a Slashdot book review, but Mr. Leonard has already said it all. The book was painfully unfocused and managed to say very little to anyone who has even heard of Linux by now. Ah well, at least the title page says that the royalties are going to the FSF.
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John 3:16 - God's Public License
Well, I appreciated the article. I was thinking of buying the book, but now I'll wait until I see differing reviews, get bored, or want to make a contribution to the FSF.
;)
As long as the articles on Salon remain critical of Linux and open source, where deserved, I don't see a problem with realizing there is a lot of interest in the subject and capitalizing on it.
Everyone benefits - thats what business is supposed to do.
Your stories, and others' about open source and Linux on Salon have been nearly always been well worth reading, something still pretty rare. Enough so that I do check Salon independently once a day or so, just to know what will be on Slashdot later
Thanks.
I respectfully disagree. For one, you get a good overview of a book that, quite frankly, I've heard much about, seen ads for, but haven't the foggiest about what's inside. This is the first review I've seen. And more importantly, it's not a "Rah-Rah" review, nor is it dismissive. Based upon the other information discussed in the review (of which, more later), and the tone of the article in general, it's well worth a once-over, at the least.
But it's not just a piece of the book. He's using it as a jumping-off point to discuss the Red Hat relationship with Linux, and Linux in General. No, it's not new, but it's a fresh approach. In it's timleyness, the reviewer/reporter is able to bring in recent developments with Debian, VA Linux, and Turbo Linux, and shows how their actions may affect Red Hat. Important stuff, for Salon's non-techie audience. After all, someone out there cares about making money with Linux, and who is and isn't this minute?
In this world of "me-too!" articles and bland press releases that we find outselves swamped with, not to forget FUD, it's good to see old-fashioned reporting sometimes about this new-fangled stuff. :)
There's nothing to be learned or gained from reading this article. I think that every week, Salon tries to do one article on linux (usually the articles are pretty good). I'm sure the guys at salon have found that if they get thier pages /.'ed, their ad banner revenues increase.
What appealed to me in the review was the fact that the author explicitly mentions that what is occurring in Linux land at a business level is still allowing the ideals of the free software movement to continue : business types may be able to set up an infrastructure to allow easy mainstream access to Linux, while making a buck; but the hackers can continue to expand and improve the code base at the foundation of it all.
As long as this continues to happen, the success of organisations like Red Hat, TurboLinux or whomever can only be a good thing, not only for the organisations themselves, but for everyone.
Except maybe Microsoft.
Actually, serialization in The Strand magazine is how the Holmes stories were published originally. They weren't published in hardbound editions until after they became popular among Strand readers.
As for ghostwriters, it depends on who your ghost is whether you end up with trash or not. I have Kurt Vonnegut ghosting my personal memoirs right now.
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My office has been taken over by iPod people.
Why does this come up everytime mention is made of sometime making money off of Free Software? The only software Bob Young is making money on is that software whose authors gave him explicit permission to do so. If you look at the GPL, LGPL, Artistic License, BSD License, QPL, etc., they all give Bob Young permission to put the software into his distribution, sell the distribution, sell support for the software, and many other commercial rights.
Now, you have every right to believe that money is evil, and that Bob Young is exploiting the working class. You also have the right to be wrong.
I've said this before, but apparently you weren't listening: "If you don't want Bob Young making money off of your software, why the fsck did you make it Free?!?"
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned