Distribution quotes of the week

Last but not least, I’m also thankful for Red Hat, and their continued support on behalf of Fedora, and for the great trust they place in the Fedora community. I could go on and on about the relationship between Red Hat and Fedora, but let me just say that I’m thankful for Red Hat’s continued efforts to do the right thing and to practice what it preaches about open source communities. During my tenure at FPL, I never once felt pressured by Red Hat to do anything that wasn’t in the community’s best interest, and I think that says volumes about a corporate sponsor.

Being FPL [Fedora Project Leader] is sort of like landing the part of The Doctor in Doctor Who. Each FPL brings a different personality to the role, and each FPL has their own particular talents. Also, the job isn't held too long by any one person, as the FPL usually goes on to new adventures after a few years. (Red Hat says there's no set tenure for an FPL, but it's usually two or three years since Max Spevack held the job during the Fedora 5 through 9 releases.) Sadly, no sonic screwdrivers or time travel are involved.

Technology generally suffers by something like the uncertainty principle: you can have everything well tested and ultra-stable, or you can have all the features and support for new hardware. But you cannot have both. While Fedora is something different to all of us, I think one thing is clear: that Fedora should have things First, that's our motto, and that means that not everything is as well tested as it is in RHEL or CentOS. Accepting this means that we will always have a few hiccups before things have stabilized perfectly. It's a necessary part of the game, and it won't change in the future either. As long as we decide that Fedora is where things should be available first this will stay the same.

You can't have a pony and eat it too.