Debian is a registered trademark. The rules are that you can't use the phrase "Official Debian" unless it's from Debian's CD master. You may use the name "Debian" on a derivative distribution.
The "testing" distribution is 15 days behind "unstable" and does not contain any packages for which critical bugs have been reported. It is a good compromise for folks who want new stuff and also don't want to run the risk of big problems.
I am running "unstable" pretty constantly for the last 5 years or so. It has broken to the point that something needed to be fixed before I could use the system 2 or 3 times. It still amazes me how well Debian works given that some developers have never even met another Debian developer. Of late, I have had to force the installer around a few situations where two packages claim the same file, but that is easy to do.
Actually, I wish most software was as stable as Debian's "unstable". Sometimes the name seems like a tremendous overstatement.
KDE is included, but I think GNOME is their choice of GUI. They felt it was necessary to choose, but they didn't rule out KDE users. And the KDE war is so long over, folks. They have even made peace with RMS.
OK, I know where you are coming from, and at the same time when I read this I smiled and thought to myself "Gee, it really sucks to have users!".
This has been a basic tension within Debian since it attracted the first non-hacker.
Debian can't control who its users are and remain free. It's more important to be free.
I'm one of those people who think world domination is a worthwhile goal. For that I'm willing to put up with a lot of naivete, I actually find the hackers-only crowd harder to deal with.
Aaargh! Although Ian and I are not currently Debian package maintainers, which means we each quit at some point, I think the word "defector" might give the impression that we are somehow hostile to Debian, nothing could be farther from the truth.
I was never a sysadmin there. I was a systems programmer. My main projects were
The Pixar II Image Computer, for which I did a gate-array behavioral model used to verify a chip we were designing, some of the microcode, and all of the systems software.
The Iceman Imaging Language, for which I did the non-graphical part of the language design, the language internals, the framework for image processing in the second and subsequent rewrites, and the simpler 2-D processes like compositing and mathematical operators. Graphics and signal processing gurus did the more fancy imaging operators.
The port of the modeling software to Open GL.
Lived through at least 3 entirely different business plans, 4 rounds of layoffs, and 8 years in which we lost at least $40 Million. After all of that we finally made money.
I spent 12 years there in all, after 6 years at the NYIT computer graphics lab and half a year doing radiology systems at Matrix Instruments. Much of my time at Pixar was fun, although there were some very stressful and frustrating years mixed in. I remain a systems programmer and never really got into graphics.
No, Debian wants to be the basis of commercial distributions. It likes the people who duplicate Debian CDs and sell them, too. That saves Debian a whole lot of effort and gets them more users.
The point of Debian is an entirely free system made by volunteers. That doesn't mean that it can't be sold or commercialized, as long as you always have the chance to get a free or cheap copy if you so desire.
Progeny is not making money off of your technical support, at least not yet, because they are not selling the distribution yet. Everything is free so far. Once they start selling, people will have an expectation of commercial support. I suppose some of what you have been seeing so far is due to the free nature of the pre-release system - there's no box with Progeny's phone number on it.
Again, given that the Progeny executive team currently has the two first Debian project leaders as Chairman and CEO, who also happen to be the Debian founder, the founder of SPI, the author of the DFSG, the chance of alienation or "taking advantage" is rather low.
I agree that it's a bad idea to ask the Debian organization to support a commercial distribution, and Progeny isn't doing that. But Progeny Debian is indeed supposed to be Debian as far as the software you are getting is concerned. Sure, they added some stuff, but it is all DFSG-free and available to the Debian developers to incorporate into the main Debian tree. Also, the Debian packagers that Progeny employs are some pretty key ones. They maintain up to 50 packages per person. One of them mainains X, which is huge and pretty critical.
Also, note that the Progeny CEO is the Debian founder, and is not one to "take advantage" of the volunteer developers, he is solidly behind the Debian way of doing things and actually created a lot of it. They also have me as chairman for a little while longer (although I have never worked there), and then I'll be on their advisory board, and I am the main author of the DFSG and again not someone to "take advantage" of volunteer developers.
They are an acquisition target, as are a number of other companies we both know well. There are some big boys out there who want to buy Linux expertise in a working company today, rather than build it. That is why Eazel is not laying off the key developers - they know where their value is.
If I had to guess, I'd say they will end up part of Dell, which already holds substantial equity.
I don't know much about SiteRock, but can't be surprised that some companies could not make a go of it. I've liquidated a few myself. This is a very difficult game and in the present situation, cash and patience will win.
No, I am not saying that only infrastructure should be Open Sourced. I am saying that infrastructure must be Open Source. There's a big difference, isn't there?
Yes, Open Sourcing Mozilla was the best thing Netscape could do. Too bad that it took two years to get it working, MS walked away with the browser market on the Windows platform while it was happening. If we can get Linux desktops out there in quantity, maybe we can turn that around now.
If you think I tend to go with the flow, hit my web site and read my old interviews and papers. It's the same tune today.
As a number of other people have mentioned, this was not a layoff of Nautilus developers. But if they go down (and that's a very big if), the code is way past the bootstrap stage and is certain to remain alive. Compare it to the complexity of the entire GNOME project or the Linux kernel. Nautilus is big but not rocket science, and it's not Mozilla - something that was 2 years away from working and thus didn't attract developers.
I advised them to not Open Source OpenMail until we were ready to throw it away. I want HP to produce lots of Free Software, but that means they have to make some money, too, or they will make no free software at all. I thought there was still more potential to make money with OpenMail as a proprietary product, and that we could do better things for the Free Software community with the money. That did not work out.
There is one real philosophical difference between RMS and me. RMS believes that all software should be free. I want to see Free Software and proprietary software compete on a fair playing field, and there are some areas where I insist on software being free, like the infrastructure that everybody uses. So, having a proprietary product is not anathema to me.
A lot of us went into business with very high expectations, and yes, that was because of how high Netscape went on its IPO, etc. Those expectations are very different now.
Fortunately, unlike most software businesses: if Eazel doesn't make it, their software will go on.
There is a lot of money to be made in Linux and Free Software. But that does not change the fact that being a start-up now really sucks. Because of that, a lot of the money is going to be made by old-line companies with a lot of cash and the patience to weather bad economic times, like IBM and (if I can do anything about it) HP. And the little companies that do succeed are going to be the ones that keep their expenses way down until they are profitable, rather than ride the more extravagant venture capital road. That means keep your day job while developing your next product.
Excellent site! I started thinking about the nitrogen issue while the city of Berkeley was funding efforts to close down the nearby Tritium lab at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories. I will be in Great Britain in April and will be sure to bring home some tritium light keychains to piss off my neighbors.
Bruce
NITROGEN WARNING is similar to TCP/IP warning
on
Security Hole In TCP
·
· Score: 5
The warning we are now reading about TCP is very similar to this NITROGEN WARNING:
Warning! Scientists have determined that, if you live in the U.S., over 70% of the air you breathe is now NITROGEN. Nitrogen is a colorless, odorless gas that can actually DROWN YOU by excluding oxygen from your environment.
Of course, the air has contained that much Nitrogen for the entire existence of the human species. And this TCP security problem has existed nearly as long, and has had about as little effect on your life. People fix this by improving their random number generators. Big deal.
HP's PIM on the 100 and 200 belonged to Lotus. We can do better now.
Whether or not HP settles on Linux for its software, the raw hardware is probably capable of running Linux. Even working for HP, I care less about what software they choose than the fact that I can make my own choice.
Slashdot Mirror
Bruce
Uh-oh. You said extra stuff like KDE. Hide, now!
Thanks
Bruce
Actually, I wish most software was as stable as Debian's "unstable". Sometimes the name seems like a tremendous overstatement.
Thanks
Bruce
Thanks
Bruce
This has been a basic tension within Debian since it attracted the first non-hacker.
Debian can't control who its users are and remain free. It's more important to be free.
I'm one of those people who think world domination is a worthwhile goal. For that I'm willing to put up with a lot of naivete, I actually find the hackers-only crowd harder to deal with.
Thanks
Bruce
You've never heard of OpenCola.Life is stranger than Trolls!
Bruce
- The Pixar II Image Computer, for which I did a gate-array behavioral model used to verify a chip we were designing, some of the microcode, and all of the systems software.
- The Iceman Imaging Language, for which I did the non-graphical part of the language design, the language internals, the framework for image processing in the second and subsequent rewrites, and the simpler 2-D processes like compositing and mathematical operators. Graphics and signal processing gurus did the more fancy imaging operators.
- The port of the modeling software to Open GL.
- Lived through at least 3 entirely different business plans, 4 rounds of layoffs, and 8 years in which we lost at least $40 Million. After all of that we finally made money.
I spent 12 years there in all, after 6 years at the NYIT computer graphics lab and half a year doing radiology systems at Matrix Instruments. Much of my time at Pixar was fun, although there were some very stressful and frustrating years mixed in. I remain a systems programmer and never really got into graphics.Thanks
Bruce
Bruce
The point of Debian is an entirely free system made by volunteers. That doesn't mean that it can't be sold or commercialized, as long as you always have the chance to get a free or cheap copy if you so desire.
Thanks
Bruce
Thanks
Bruce
Thanks
Bruce
Also, note that the Progeny CEO is the Debian founder, and is not one to "take advantage" of the volunteer developers, he is solidly behind the Debian way of doing things and actually created a lot of it. They also have me as chairman for a little while longer (although I have never worked there), and then I'll be on their advisory board, and I am the main author of the DFSG and again not someone to "take advantage" of volunteer developers.
Thanks
Bruce
Bruce
Freedom of Speech doesn't mean I have to give you a podium to speak from. There are lots of forums like Slashdot where you can say what you want.
Bruce
They are an acquisition target, as are a number of other companies we both know well. There are some big boys out there who want to buy Linux expertise in a working company today, rather than build it. That is why Eazel is not laying off the key developers - they know where their value is.
If I had to guess, I'd say they will end up part of Dell, which already holds substantial equity.
I don't know much about SiteRock, but can't be surprised that some companies could not make a go of it. I've liquidated a few myself. This is a very difficult game and in the present situation, cash and patience will win.
Thanks
Bruce
Yes, Open Sourcing Mozilla was the best thing Netscape could do. Too bad that it took two years to get it working, MS walked away with the browser market on the Windows platform while it was happening. If we can get Linux desktops out there in quantity, maybe we can turn that around now.
If you think I tend to go with the flow, hit my web site and read my old interviews and papers. It's the same tune today.
Thanks
Bruce
Bruce
There is one real philosophical difference between RMS and me. RMS believes that all software should be free. I want to see Free Software and proprietary software compete on a fair playing field, and there are some areas where I insist on software being free, like the infrastructure that everybody uses. So, having a proprietary product is not anathema to me.
Thanks
Bruce
Fortunately, unlike most software businesses: if Eazel doesn't make it, their software will go on.
There is a lot of money to be made in Linux and Free Software. But that does not change the fact that being a start-up now really sucks. Because of that, a lot of the money is going to be made by old-line companies with a lot of cash and the patience to weather bad economic times, like IBM and (if I can do anything about it) HP. And the little companies that do succeed are going to be the ones that keep their expenses way down until they are profitable, rather than ride the more extravagant venture capital road. That means keep your day job while developing your next product.
Thanks
Bruce
Bruce
Of course, the air has contained that much Nitrogen for the entire existence of the human species. And this TCP security problem has existed nearly as long, and has had about as little effect on your life. People fix this by improving their random number generators. Big deal.
Bruce
Whether or not HP settles on Linux for its software, the raw hardware is probably capable of running Linux. Even working for HP, I care less about what software they choose than the fact that I can make my own choice.
Thanks
Bruce
Bruce