Postcard from Penguin Land, Part 1 (ZDNet) [LWN.net]

ZDNet's David Berlind went to LinuxWorld. "Fresh from acquisitions of Ximian and SuSE, and a day after SCO announces that it's launching a suit, Novell CEO Jack Messman gives an impassioned keynote about how his company has adopted a new religion: open source. He sets the stage for two themes that for me will drive the focus of LinuxWorld: raising the bar on managing everything from Linux desktops to servers to clusters and the SCO indemnification issue. Novell indemnifies. HP indemnifies. Red Hat announced it will replace any code found to be infringing. But what about IBM, Sun, Dell and others?"

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Postcard from Penguin Land, Part 1 (ZDNet)

Posted Jan 26, 2004 21:02 UTC (Mon) by jamienk (subscriber, #1144) [Link]

This article's gossipy tone makes it sound like backroom forces are strategically driving Free Software's development, instead of the libidinous excitment of the geeks who weren't invted to the "invitaion only" presentations and who didn't predict the future of QuickTime(tm) over dinner.

Postcard from Penguin Land, Part 1 (ZDNet)

Posted Jan 26, 2004 23:28 UTC (Mon) by trutkin (guest, #3919) [Link]

Yes. Yes it does. Open source developments are a result of both.

Postcard from Penguin Land, Part 1 (ZDNet)

Posted Jan 27, 2004 1:36 UTC (Tue) by BrucePerens (subscriber, #2510) [Link]

David took me out to dinner, and we had a chat. There wasn't really an agenda, unless it was free beer and pasta. And we brought someone from the Linux Terminal Server Project on short notice, because John Terpstra of Samba wasn't going to be there in time.

I have two press teams at the moment - one with my publisher, and one with the Desktop Linux Consortium. My publisher has put 10 books in Open Source since starting my series. The DLC has me on staff to make sure they stick to Open Source ethos. I'm not sure what anyone would object to.

Besides the press, I have been known to go out to dinner with random Linux User Group members. And I answer the phone at 510-526-1165, and talk to whatever press and other people call.

I sometimes make things happen in the Linux and Open Source world, simply because a lot of people have heard of me and will at least listen to me. I didn't ask for this capability, I guess it came here because I sometimes say things in public that a lot of other people would like to say. I try to use it for the public good. If you don't like what I'm doing, you're free to call that number and tell me. I leave it off the hook at night.

Thanks

Bruce

Postcard from Penguin Land, Part 1 (ZDNet)

Posted Jan 27, 2004 3:29 UTC (Tue) by a_hippie (subscriber, #34) [Link]

Since you are offering to do a LUG thing, I think I'll give you a call to
visit us up here in the (real) north coast :) We'd love to have you
present just about any topic you would like to talk about.

Yes, that seems like a fine idea!

73 Bruce

Jaye, ke6sls

Postcard from Penguin Land, Part 1 (ZDNet)

Posted Jan 27, 2004 3:36 UTC (Tue) by dkite (guest, #4577) [Link]

What Microsoft could do, if they could turn back the clock?

Interesting question. I don't think it is Microsoft alone that raises the
ire of us all. Since they own a large percentage of the business,
essentially the business reflects Microsoft.

I'll tell you what I hate about Microsoft and the whole computer
business. It comes down to intellectual property. All I see are walls
around the things I need to get into to fix, troubleshoot, get working,
etc. I know I can't do everything. I depend on others, and am willing to
pay others, to produce things I need. But why can't I see how they work?
Why are there 'undocumented interfaces'? My experience with proprietary
closed things is constantly fighting with hidden quirks. I can read
source code. I know bugs exist in all software. Let me at it, at least I
can figure out a way to make it work. And to be fair, Microsoft is better
than most, they need to be since their stuff is all over the place. Try
working with vertical narrow application software. Or hardware/software
packages. The situation is abominable.

How are they to make money, you ask? I don't care. Why should I care,
since no one cares about me, beyond trying to stick me in a box and force
me to use their stuff.

I have purchased software, only after I tried it. I am not a fool, being
quite enamored with the luxury of daily meals. Free means freedom, not
free-ride. I, along with many others, contribute money or time to the
software we like using.

So, in retrospect, I don't think Microsoft could have done differently,
except be open and free with everything. Just as I experience today in
the FOSS world.

Derek