Linux still Free as in Freedom for non developers?
Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on September 08, 2004 03:21 AM
I am tired of the zillion distro game, with one distribution supporting some hardware perfectly, while the next one fails to do so. Or with third-party software being specific to a particular Linux version. The whole point of Linux was supposed to be to remove artificial barriers and to create a level playing field. It doesn't feel that way anymore.
In one of its most recent interviews with Cnet, Sulick , declined to explain how people needing to run Oracle on Linux or a vast majority of other apps were not just as locked into Red Hat as they were with Windows. In fact, he promoted this lock-in, i.e., certification process, as a competitive advantage.
It is also telling that Linux was supposed to bring computing to those in the developing world that couldn't afford it, yet enterprise Linux remains very expensive. I never thought one would pay more than $100 to get five years of security updates on a linux distribution. I guess I was wrong. So I guess I am growing tired of all these feel-good stories about how we are the good guys when we seem to be vying for the same kind of control that the monopolist now has.
Until all apps run on all distributions or at least the major ones (Debian, Mandrake, Suse, Slackware, Red Hat), I believe the future of Linux is in jeopardy. We have traded one master for another one.
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Linux still Free as in Freedom for non developers?
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on September 08, 2004 03:21 AMIn one of its most recent interviews with Cnet, Sulick , declined to explain how people needing to run Oracle on Linux or a vast majority of other apps were not just as locked into Red Hat as they were with Windows. In fact, he promoted this lock-in, i.e., certification process, as a competitive advantage.
It is also telling that Linux was supposed to bring computing to those in the developing world that couldn't afford it, yet enterprise Linux remains very expensive. I never thought one would pay more than $100 to get five years of security updates on a linux distribution. I guess I was wrong. So I guess I am growing tired of all these feel-good stories about how we are the good guys when we seem to be vying for the same kind of control that the monopolist now has.
Until all apps run on all distributions or at least the major ones (Debian, Mandrake, Suse, Slackware, Red Hat), I believe the future of Linux is in jeopardy. We have traded one master for another one.
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