Is Capital taking over Linux?
Chris | 04.11.2003 22:35 | WSIS 2003 | Technology | Sheffield
The latest version of Red Hat Linux will be out this week and it will be called Fedora 1 not Red Hat 10, also SuSE Linux has just been bought by Novell and this has been bankrolled by IBM. What is happening here and what does it mean for the world's most popular versions of the free GNU/Linux computer operating system?
Red Hat is the world's most popular GNU/Linux distribution, SuSE is probably the 3rd or 4th most popular (2nd being Mandrake and 3rd or 4th being Debian).
There has been lots of negative press regarding the lack of a Red Hat 10 distro with box sets and support for sale from Red Hat, for example:
Red Hat Linux Support To End
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/11/03/1749259
Red Hat realignment opens door for Red Carpet
http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/11/03/2136258
Red Hat tells customers, "No more freebies!"
http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/11/03/1657205
Though not long ago there was a more positive discussion:
Red Hat Linux Project Merges With Fedora
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/22/1712227
Progeny Brings Red Hat and Debian Closer Together
http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/10/25/1345240
I think that Red Hat opening up the development process to the community, via Fedora [1] is a great thing.
The exchange value of a Fedora CD set is basically the cost of producing and shipping them, there is some money to be made there but not much.
I think this is why Red Hat are concentrating on selling services to businesses.
Fedora is called Fedora in part because of the merger with the Fedora Linux Project [2], a group who were producing 3rd party RPMs for machines running Red Hat and also to enable the free as in free beer distribution to be reproduced en mass by anyone without having the hassle of removing the Red Hat logo before burning the isos [3].
However Red Hat could do what Mozilla does, sell cheap Mozilla CDs [4] or what OpenOffice.org does, link to people selling OpenOffice.org CDs [5]. After all Red Hat still sells hats, stickers, t-shirts and posters! [6].
I have been lurking and sometimes reading mail on the new Fedora lists [7] and lots of cool stuff has been happening, PPC ports, offers to help on internationalisation, the inclusion of more packages, support for other updaters like apt and yum and even a legacy project to support old Red Hat versions is being started.
What is essentially happening here is that the free software mode of production is asserting its nature and getting more into the driving seat -- free software works best when it is developed in an open and free manner.
In the meantime SuSE has been brought by Novell whom IBM have taken a big stake in. This gets loads of support and postive press:
Novell Announces Agreement to Acquire SuSE
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/11/04/1336252
FLASH - Novell buys SuSE
http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/11/04/1332252
I don't know what will happen with SuSE, will they realise that to survive they have to open up their development process and thus cede control to the community or will the hierarchical command structures of capital try to hang on to this distrubtion?
References
1. http://fedora.redhat.com/
2. http://www.fedora.us/
3. http://fedora.redhat.com/about/trademarks/guidelines/
4. http://store.mozilla.org/
5. http://distribution.openoffice.org/cdrom/
6. http://www.redhat.com/apps/commerce/coolstuff.html
7. http://fedora.redhat.com/participate/communicate/
There has been lots of negative press regarding the lack of a Red Hat 10 distro with box sets and support for sale from Red Hat, for example:
Red Hat Linux Support To End
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/11/03/1749259 Red Hat realignment opens door for Red Carpet
http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/11/03/2136258 Red Hat tells customers, "No more freebies!"
http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/11/03/1657205 Though not long ago there was a more positive discussion:
Red Hat Linux Project Merges With Fedora
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/22/1712227 Progeny Brings Red Hat and Debian Closer Together
http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/10/25/1345240 I think that Red Hat opening up the development process to the community, via Fedora [1] is a great thing.
The exchange value of a Fedora CD set is basically the cost of producing and shipping them, there is some money to be made there but not much.
I think this is why Red Hat are concentrating on selling services to businesses.
Fedora is called Fedora in part because of the merger with the Fedora Linux Project [2], a group who were producing 3rd party RPMs for machines running Red Hat and also to enable the free as in free beer distribution to be reproduced en mass by anyone without having the hassle of removing the Red Hat logo before burning the isos [3].
However Red Hat could do what Mozilla does, sell cheap Mozilla CDs [4] or what OpenOffice.org does, link to people selling OpenOffice.org CDs [5]. After all Red Hat still sells hats, stickers, t-shirts and posters! [6].
I have been lurking and sometimes reading mail on the new Fedora lists [7] and lots of cool stuff has been happening, PPC ports, offers to help on internationalisation, the inclusion of more packages, support for other updaters like apt and yum and even a legacy project to support old Red Hat versions is being started.
What is essentially happening here is that the free software mode of production is asserting its nature and getting more into the driving seat -- free software works best when it is developed in an open and free manner.
In the meantime SuSE has been brought by Novell whom IBM have taken a big stake in. This gets loads of support and postive press:
Novell Announces Agreement to Acquire SuSE
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/11/04/1336252 FLASH - Novell buys SuSE
http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/11/04/1332252 I don't know what will happen with SuSE, will they realise that to survive they have to open up their development process and thus cede control to the community or will the hierarchical command structures of capital try to hang on to this distrubtion?
References
1.
http://fedora.redhat.com/ 2.
http://www.fedora.us/ 3.
http://fedora.redhat.com/about/trademarks/guidelines/ 4.
http://store.mozilla.org/ 5.
http://distribution.openoffice.org/cdrom/ 6.
http://www.redhat.com/apps/commerce/coolstuff.html 7.
http://fedora.redhat.com/participate/communicate/
Chris
Comments
Hide the following 13 comments
Well Yes ...
04.11.2003 23:46
I was talking at work with a fellow Linux user on why Free / Open Source Software ( in particular Gnu/Linux) was so much better than other propriety offerings ( Netware, MS server 2003 ). The answer we came to was that
1. They code is open.. therefore is subject to better peer review than closed code.
2. They are not "marketed". There's not been a marketing dept telling Linus to get a new release out, "Windows is on version 2003 and we've not even got to version 3 yet"
The challenges will be twofold
1. For those who actually produce the code to maintain its quality in the face of increased pressure to innovate/differentiate.
2. The GPL and its ability to empower and stimulate true innovation. The SCO/IBM lawsuit wil be crucial.
How will IBM / Novell progress there interest in GPL software? Will we see NDS opened up? Novells admin tools for LDAP opened up? That could be a real blow for M$ and Active directory, as the big players move into services and support over license fees as income generation, whilst also allowing anybody willing to read a man page the opportunity empower themselves.
bone_idol
Wot did you expect?
05.11.2003 00:00
oiyoi
remember last time
05.11.2003 02:25
... its all been done before
you will be asymilated
zamzam the spring
open source
05.11.2003 05:19
"open source" is another, slightly less accurate term for Free Software, where no one can take complete control away from you:
The GNU Public License has been used to stop corporates stealing our code many times. linksys is the most recent example, they tried to use GPL code in their proprietary DSL routers twice, and both times were forced to backed down.
BSD license, on the other hand, is exactly as you describe: use that and you're basically volunteering to work for microsoft and similar megacorps for free. That can be described as "open source", true. But it's not "free" software, "free" as in free speech not "free" as in free beer.
The difference between the two is outlined here:
software freedom and the GPL aren't just an academic exercise. both go right to the heart of basic issues of freedom of information, something in short supply these days.
spanner
Free software production is absorbing capital
05.11.2003 11:33
Also I think SuSE will end up opening up their development process to the community and there are some promising signs of this already, for example this post on Slashdot:
More on this understanding of the new mode of production can be found via the Project Oekonux web site:
Chris
hmm
05.11.2003 13:36
Index of /pub/amiga/gnu. Parent Directory; COPYING-2.0; COPYING.LIB-2.0;
FSF-sources; beta; diffs; docs; emacs; gcc; gcc-cross; gcc-old-ports; ...
www.funet.fi/pub/amiga/gnu/ - 2k - 3 Nov 2003 - Cached - Similar pages
Index of /pub/amiga/gnu/mailing-lists
Index of /pub/amiga/gnu/mailing-lists. Name Last modified Size Description
amiga-gcc-port-1990.gz 10-Feb-1995 13:45 68k amiga-gcc ...
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amiga: Gnu C++ on NetBSD
Subject: Gnu C++ on NetBSD To: None From: John Shardlow
List: amiga Date: 09/09/1995 15:39:11 Fellow NetBSD people ...
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amiga: GNU binutils 2.5.2
Subject: GNU binutils 2.5.2 To: NetBSD-Amiga From: Tero Manninen
List: amiga Date: 12/17/1994 12:32:05 Hi, I have ...
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zamzam the spring
BSD is free software too
05.11.2003 14:24
The FSF is quite clear about the BSD being free software on
MJR
GNU
05.11.2003 14:54
and I'm not aware of any copyleft software that was written on the amiga and then stolen by corporates for Windows. If it's copyleft, it can't be openly stolen, and it can be used on any OS.
spanner
BSD license
05.11.2003 20:08
for example, the windows TCP/IP stack was repoertedly lifted almost intact from a BSD. this seems to me simply volunteering to write code for mega-corps, who then spend all the saved R&D dosh on marketing to persuade the non-technical that BSD's somehow not as good as windows.
granting the "freedom" to allow your code to be closed up is, IMHO, the road to less freedom.
chris' main thesis about free software changing the mode of production globally is very persuasive. but i think it will need a fully copyleft license like the GPL for it to happen.
spanner
But what will you run your free software on?
05.11.2003 22:40
check out
and
for another viewpoint
Sure you can build your own media player, but it won't run unless it signed by Disney.
Free software is important.. but its just a tool not a solution.
bone_idol
BSD
06.11.2003 10:02
Please use these common terms, else you spread the confusion. We need to educate more people, but that won't happen as efficiently if we all use the same words to mean different things. A little diversity of opinion is good, but we need a basic language that others can learn.
MJR
Imprecision
06.11.2003 11:17
The semantic imprecision inherent in the English word "free" is a problem here. The word "free" in "Free Software" doesn't address all aspects of the word freedom: French uses two words for freedom, other languages use even more. English is hobbled with only one.
So while we discuss this in english we can use the common English terms (as defined by the FSF) to talk about Free Software and software freedom, but there are other aspects of freedom, which Stallman et al don't always discuss, and are in some respects kept deliberately outside the scope of their discussions.
Many Free Software advocates, for example, don't want to be seen discussing freedom from a marxist or anarchist perspective, as some believe that "politics should be kept out of technical discussions", or "we need to use non-marxist and non-anarchist language and ideas to keep the moderates/liberals/right-wing libertarians/whatever on board", etc. Some of them are moderates/liberals/right-wing libertarians/etc themselves. Recent trends in the US and elsewhere have strengthened this divide between technology and radical politics.
But the political issues do need to be discussed outside of the usual political boundaries, so we need to cope as best we can with the limitations of the english language.
BTW, sorry for using the FSF's metaphor "free speech versus free beer" in my post "open source" above to describe "freedom" outside of the way it's used by the FSF. I can see now that was probably misleading.
But no i'm not objecting to anything anyone wrote, only pointing out the need to widen the discussion from its usual boundaries. Technology-only discussions are good for mainstream tech blogs like slashdot: indymedia is a better place for news and ideas from radical social and political perspectives that seldom get addressed there.
It'd be good to see a lot more articles like this, and eventually see indymedia open up a "technology" topic. Technology is too important to be left to technologists. :-)
spanner
BLAG Linux And GNU
07.11.2003 22:24
jebba