Yesterday we issued an announcement that we’d be making our next release, Red Hat Linux 9, available early for RHN subscribers. It was lacking some supporting info, and as you’d expect, we got a lot of questions. Most notably, “Why 9?” and “Why drop the dot?”
Being in the know, as it were, I knew most of the reasons, most of which are easy to spot, even from the outside. But in my tireless quest to keep you folks as informed as I can, I had to find out what the official response was.
So I asked around. Most of marketing was in
“meetings,” unavailable for commentary. I took an informal poll of the rest ofthe company, as to why we might do such a thing. And this is what I found:
10 – The dot is so 90’s. You had your dot com’s, your dot bombs… heck the kernel I’m running has two dots and a friggin’ dash for crying out loud. Let’s get with the times.
9 – The Beatles: White Album: Disc Two: Track 12.
8 – It was a typo in the announcement. But since it’s on the web, we have to believe it’s true.
7 – Step One: Drop the Dot, Step Two: [TBD], Step Three: PROFIT!!!!
6 – At this rate, Red Hat will be on version 20 for our 20th
anniversary! Imagine how technologically advanced Linux will be at
version twenty. [NOTE: Next year we may begin counting by fives to speed
it along.]
5 – Intrigue. It’s alllll about leaving something to the imagination.
That and the bling bling.
4 – Nine muses, nine planets, nine base digits. Think about it.
3 – It’s German for ‘no.’ But only when you say it out loud. And only in English. Kinda blows your mind, doesn’t it?
2 – We were afraid that calling it “Release 9 From Outer Space” would get us sued.
1 – To be honest there are a number of reasons, none very sexy or
interesting, that subsequent press releases will clear up. We’re addressing things like the concerns RHCEs and RHCTs have over cert life, and we’ll be posting the official word on why we went with 9 before long.
Keep telling us your opinion on “Why 9?” Or “Why drop the dot?”
Send your comments/suggestions to feedback@redhat.com. I’ll send a bunch
of shwag to the best response.
If nothing else, it’ll flood the inbox of some of my favorite co-workers, and that makes it all worthwhile. 🙂
Category:
- Management
