I do not believe that the site is anti-Red Hat. The creator is merely trying to make a point. Red Hat is not the only distribution of Linux out there. It is important that new users, and businesses that are starting to take an interest in Linux be made aware of the other alternatives out there. I have used both Red Hat and SuSE in my first year as a Linux user. I like them both. Unfortunately, Red Hat has gained an edge on the competition out there through no fault of its own. I am not saying that they will be the next Microsoft. I think that is absurd. However, they may unwillingly reduce competition between the distributions if most software will only install out of the box on a Red Hat Linux system. Perhaps I missed something at the site. If I did, then please correct me. However, I truly believe that the site creator is not trying to bash Red Hat. He is merely trying to say something akin to what I stated above. Victor On Fri, 28 Apr 2000, Steven T. Hatton wrote:
NOTE: This message is being e-mailed to info@redhatisnotlinux.org as well as to "suse-linux-e@suse.com"
. Please RE to the SuSE list and let the RSN folks drop by and listen or participate as they like. I took a look at this site [ http://www.RedHatIsNotLinux.org ] because it was posted to the SuSE Linux mailing list. I agree with the spirit of what you are trying to accomplish, in so much as it regards the preservation of a free GLinux. (the 'G' may be silent as in "GNOME") I believe it is a bad idea to pick on any particular distribution. I have used SuSE for two very solid years. For the most part I am happy with SuSE, and I have the feeling they are on of the truer distributions in the OSS spirit. The has it's ups and downs. I have spilt blood over HP's WJA for (Red Hat) Linux. I have had the same type of experience with Corel's WordPerfect. In the latter case Corel was willing to assist the SuSE community in using their product with reasonably good results.
The danger in naming Red Hat specifically is that it threatens to polarize the overall Linux community. I agree that RH has the potential of becoming the Microsoft of GLinux. To a large extent this is not their "fault". It's not RH who demands these vendors produce RH specific products. It seems to be more a combination of the traditional, one vendor of OS's, paradigm, as well as an ignorance on the part of the hardware vendor community as regards the overall GLinux community and market. I have never used RH, but I'm sure they produce a fine distribution. In the last century the Unix industry attempted to standardize on an agreed upon framework, and ended up with a heterogeneous plethora of Unix products that tend not to provide the interoperability promised by such an agreement. I would like to see the GLinux community accomplish what the Unix vendors failed to do. I don't believe singling out RH or any other distributor as the culprit will produce the sprit of trust and cooperation required to create a truly open GLinux platform.
The problem arises that the GLinux distributors need some type of market differentiate to attract customers. If companies who distribute GLinux cannot make money, they will not survive. Finding the middle ground is not easy. It becomes more difficult when we start using antagonistic tactics. I humbly suggest you change the focus of your campaign away from an opposition to RH, and toward the goal of a truly open GLinux.
Thanks for hearing me out,
Steve
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