I think the time has come for us to buy our favorite distro (or rather the media, handbook, and support that comes with it) to help secure its future.
M
I couldn't agree with you more! Personally, I view Linux (and all of the associated user space programs, GNU and other) as 5,000 peices of a large puzzle. Putting them together and making something that looks like a complete picture takes time, and time, as they say, is money. That's why I pay for all of my SuSE distributions (I'm on my 3rd), and have convinced many friends into doing the same. ---- I wonder what the net result of the split to two versions was. I did not like the move at the time, and I don't like it now, and here's why: Two levels of release are that much harder to maintain: you need to sets of media, two sets of manuals, retail outlets need to try to stock two different releases, and it creates a little bit of consumer confusion- what's which? Just keep tweaking the installer- right off the bat choose Personal or Pro from within a single release. It smells like the auto industry. I always thought that if all cars had power windows, then the industry would not have to keep track of any parts related to manual windows. Power window replacement parts would be cheaper due to efficiency of scale. "I need a power window motor." "Well, that's all we sell, no problem, here you go." Also, the price jumped. Personal was one price, and pro was another. Pro was expensive enough so that now I skip versions. I went from 6.4 to 7.2. Before that I had 6.1, 6.2, 6.3 and 6.4. I was also in a store buying 6.4 and I noticed another shopper gazing at Red Hat, and he bought SuSE when I was through with him. I'm in the store less now. It's a tough climate, and I do what little I can. What about the middle market- not quite enterprise? I see lot's of businesses that use Windows/Exchange, but with the proper consulting, could be reliably using a Linux set-up. There, though, you're relying on the consultant to at least charge each client for one copy of SuSE per site install, even though thr consultant could buy one copy of SuSE and use it all year long for many many clients. What's in the pipes for SuSE 7.3? Also, everything has leveled- demand for high-speed, demand for hardware, etc. The phat/easy growth is over, and the Linux model is somewhat flawed because, like Napster, it fosters a "well, everything is free" mentality, when obviously, it costs somebody money to develop and produce releases. Service models like Red Hat and Compaq aren't doing all that hot either. Look at VA Linux.