After our openly elected Board Members sent their open letter[0] to us
the community there seems to have been a bit of a media frenzy. I use
the term frenzy very loosely here as there was no circus, certainly
nothing like that after some of the things that have happened in the
past, but a definite air of FUD on behalf of some supposed
journalists.
Now I have made it pretty clear to many that I think journalism
nowadays has taken a subterranean nose dive in quality and
authenticity, with almost no investigation into the facts and an
insatiable lust to turn anything into evil especially in the tech
industry. We have the usual FUD merchants doing the rounds which is
fine and par for the course unfortunately, but when supposed
journalists start publishing FUD that really gets my goat. Let's take
the open letter to the community now. As Bryen and Pascal mention,
they have been approached by many both publicly and privately about
what the layoffs mean for openSUSE as a project and distro. They have
thought hard about the best way to answer people's questions and
concerns, and I must admit I whole heartedly agree with their approach
to making a public statement that is there for all to see. Let's not
forget these two fine gents have no access to the inner workings and
thoughts of Novell so they don't necessarily know the whole rationale
behind Novell's decision (hoping there is one ;) ) but they do have a
modicum of access and especially when it comes to openSUSE related
items. This letter was not sent out as a pre-emptive strike to quash
any questions, it was <u>in response to community members
questions</u> and as such I feel it was 100% warranted. Some hacks
(it much better represents the faux journalists, and their tabloid
nature in reporting) feel that this announcement proves to the world
that the openSUSE project is in trouble - bollocks!!
These hacks also try and label Pascal and Bryen as insensitive for
asking those that have unfortunately been bitten by the bullet to keep
up their fine efforts within the community. Novell do *NOT* run
openSUSE /we/ the community run the project, Novell run the enterprise
derivative. Some of those that have been laid off have been with
openSUSE for over nine years, if not longer, so it is perfectly
reasonable to ask those with the knowledge to keep the knowledge pool
alive and kicking. Some of those wouldn't think of doing anything
other than continuing with contributing to openSUSE. No it isn't
insensitive in the slightest, it shows that the Board and the
community acknowledge their contributions and that they are still very
much thought of as part of the community, even more so now that they
are not paid to be part of it. Yes there are one or two (hopefully
not more) that believe the layoffs mean they should cut all direct
ties off and we as a community understand that, we are sorry to see
these members leave but we will continue forging ahead. Hopefully
they will return and continue in the fun.
If any of you hacks want to write a story, drop the sensationalism
from it, it detracts from what it is that is being said. openSUSE is
rock solid with a strong and vibrant community, and one thing that I
think our community is best at is acknowledging our faults and wanting
to improve and make us a better distro and project. There is no
fanboy blindness about us, we are honest and open. Heck we even tip
hats to those projects that we think "damn why didn't we think of
doing something like that". Dear hacks, if you would like to speak to
the Board for clarification or to discuss or report on anything, then
drop them an e-mail[1] they don't bite and they don't bullshit.
Oh and dear hacks, for the love of all that is holy and righteous stop
fucking misspelling our name. It is spelt, and I'll do it really slow
for you, o p e n S U S E; *NOT* OpenSUSE or any other derivative!!!!!
If there is one thing that really makes us want to go and chew on some
Wookie ass crack it's the misspelling of our name - yes your spell
checker is wrong at times ;-)
[0] -
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-project/2009-02/msg00079.html
[1] - board(a)opensuse.org
--
Andrew Wafaa, openSUSE Member: FunkyPenguin
openSUSE: Get It, Discover It, Create It at
http://www.opensuse.org
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