Comment Well DUH... Of course RH is becoming MS! (Score 0) 694
You see kids, we live in a world of capitalism. In capitalism, there is the desire of a company to reap the benefits of its labors. In this case, while Linux is of course, and was created as, a free, open source OS, RH got its grubby little capitalist hands on it to start innovating it. They made getting Linux on your computer much easier, by going to the store and paying a nominal fee for the CD and the Manual.
Now, SUSE, as well as many others have taken this same step towards inovation. So, what is RH to do one may ask to stay competitive? After all, RH IS a company with employees and owners who want to make $$. Well, by golly, they will put some stuff in their distro that no one else has! They sprinkle in a little bit of RPM, and a little bit of anything else they may make on their own.
For now, RH is content to let others see what they have done, and change and build on it. However, the day will come when RH will realize that they keep spending money and innovating, only to have the other Linux distros come and "borrow" their technology which RH put manhours and $$ into.
Before long, we see RH, with all of its fancy bells and whistles that make it the #1 Linux Distro, start to get cranky about these other distros copying their stuff and repackaging it! Next, RH starts slowly, by putting a patent on the RPM format, and maybe some other minor things which other distros already offer, so it isn't seen as a big deal.
Next, RH sees a fledgling Linux distro company, maybe SUSE, maybe Mandrake. They see the potential and talent at thost companies. Fortunately, as one of the more successful linux distro's, RH has the capital to buy one of these companies up, and merge their technologies to make an even better software product. They now have twice as much talent, and twice as much product.
With another competitor or two out of the way, RH keeps gaining steam, making a user friendly OS that can actually compete with the no-hassle MS Windows. RH has established itself and turned a profit, and has a stable product that can't be found though any other linux distro. They want to expand on what they have, and start selling CD's and manuals to Dell and IBM to put on their computers when they go out the door.
I am sure you can see where the story goes from here. Just because an OS is free doesn't mean that it doesn't make a profit. Be DAMNED sure that the kids are RH aren't out there developing software for all of you nerds just so that you will think they are cool.
The owners of RH can be just as stuffy as any suit from MS, and why wouldn't they want to be. Its the american dream. Create, and Innovate, and reap the rewards of your labors. Turn a profit, make consumers happy and make consumers WANT to buy your CD's full of open source software.
Open source was doomed to fail from the beginning. It was a noble cause, but legal loopholes will eventually make Open Source about as meaningful as saying Linux is actually easier to install than windows. If you want to sit on your computer and crank out totally free software to impress a bunch of computer nerds for the rest of your life, go ahead, have fun. But rest assured, companies like RH don't need to impress nerds, they need to impress real life consumers, and they will. However, it will come at a price.
-Economic and Capitalist Realist
Now, SUSE, as well as many others have taken this same step towards inovation. So, what is RH to do one may ask to stay competitive? After all, RH IS a company with employees and owners who want to make $$. Well, by golly, they will put some stuff in their distro that no one else has! They sprinkle in a little bit of RPM, and a little bit of anything else they may make on their own.
For now, RH is content to let others see what they have done, and change and build on it. However, the day will come when RH will realize that they keep spending money and innovating, only to have the other Linux distros come and "borrow" their technology which RH put manhours and $$ into.
Before long, we see RH, with all of its fancy bells and whistles that make it the #1 Linux Distro, start to get cranky about these other distros copying their stuff and repackaging it! Next, RH starts slowly, by putting a patent on the RPM format, and maybe some other minor things which other distros already offer, so it isn't seen as a big deal.
Next, RH sees a fledgling Linux distro company, maybe SUSE, maybe Mandrake. They see the potential and talent at thost companies. Fortunately, as one of the more successful linux distro's, RH has the capital to buy one of these companies up, and merge their technologies to make an even better software product. They now have twice as much talent, and twice as much product.
With another competitor or two out of the way, RH keeps gaining steam, making a user friendly OS that can actually compete with the no-hassle MS Windows. RH has established itself and turned a profit, and has a stable product that can't be found though any other linux distro. They want to expand on what they have, and start selling CD's and manuals to Dell and IBM to put on their computers when they go out the door.
I am sure you can see where the story goes from here. Just because an OS is free doesn't mean that it doesn't make a profit. Be DAMNED sure that the kids are RH aren't out there developing software for all of you nerds just so that you will think they are cool.
The owners of RH can be just as stuffy as any suit from MS, and why wouldn't they want to be. Its the american dream. Create, and Innovate, and reap the rewards of your labors. Turn a profit, make consumers happy and make consumers WANT to buy your CD's full of open source software.
Open source was doomed to fail from the beginning. It was a noble cause, but legal loopholes will eventually make Open Source about as meaningful as saying Linux is actually easier to install than windows. If you want to sit on your computer and crank out totally free software to impress a bunch of computer nerds for the rest of your life, go ahead, have fun. But rest assured, companies like RH don't need to impress nerds, they need to impress real life consumers, and they will. However, it will come at a price.
-Economic and Capitalist Realist
