[Fwd: Re: So Long, SuSE, We Hardly Knew Ye!]

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On Thu, 2006-11-02 at 20:45 -0500, Kurt Wall wrote:
> http://tinyurl.com/y7rcmb
> 
> So, Novell has sold out. I don't see how this makes good business sense in
> the long term, except perhaps for Red Hat. You don't make deals with
> Microsoft, because they'll find a way to to weasel out of it. Novell, of
> all companies, should understand this well. Are memories so fscking short?

Ray is hardly cold by now and already they've made a deal with the
Devil. It appears that "they" have waited for Ray to move into the next
phase, to do as they have always wanted to do. It's about the money,
follow the money. Both parties in this dog fight are about the money.
Ray had a dream... suing the pants off of M$. Apparently his successors
want to get in bed with them. 

> This is now the second time that a distribution and the company behind
> has sold us down the river. The first time it was OpenLinux and Caldera. Now
> it is SLES/SLED/openSUSE and Novell.

They did what they wanted to do, is all. 

> I'm sure it is only coincidence that both companies are Utah companies.
> Strictly speaking, Novell is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Begrudgingly, Red Hat and Fedora have another customer.
> 
> Kurt

I feel your pain, Kurt! But, on the other hand, we need the likes of you
right here. Since pain delivered you here, it must be according to your
purpose! <smiles> 

If I could get an audience with Mathew, I'd tell him to his face that
"Right Now" (TM) is the time to get off of it and Rock N Roll this
crate. I spent 26 years being an extremely competitive SOB and liked it.
It's not the better part of me, but if there was a single moment to
define the place of RH/FC, it's right now. I'll give my perspectives for
free, "Right Now."

1.) Dump Gnome, get with the KDE crowd with both feet. Make friends
there while they still feel alienated and betrayed.  Today. A month from
now will be too late after M$ starts giving away the swag. That's what I
would do, if I was in M$ shoes. The hairs on the back of my neck sez so,
Mathew. You can take them to the bank. Yeah, dig out my old resume. See
if it ain't so. 
2.) Rock N Roll this crate. Make even the install a multimedia
eye-ears-candy blast-off. Get the teens. They become Users which beget
Customers. M$ understands this. All of us old farts will be dead in ten
years, -- we are not the future --! 
3.) Push-Pull all the hardware vendors massively. Use positive PR
towards those that respond positively, and a lot of it. No bad press!
Just don't mention those that will not participate. Be assertive, not
aggressive, as they can come on board at any time and the door needs to
be open. Your Marketing crew has a very narrow window of opportunity
here. VERY narrow. 
4.) Resurrect the RH Linux Expos. Regain the sense of ownership of the
Linux community, which has been given away with both hands on your
watch. Ubuntu wouldn't even be a blip on the map if you guys had kept
your community growing. Bob understood this, and loved the unlovable
(users).  
5.) Revamp the blooming setup-utils routines (especially audio/visual).
Allow users to chose levels such as static, cutting edge and bleeding
edges when it yum updates. I'd put a halt to further new development
until the static installation is perfected in those areas. Put your best
people on it. Then hinge your further development efforts on that. Some
pimple faced 14 year old ought to be picking himself up off the floor 60
seconds into the install. Dad should be busting into room to see "What
the Hell is going on?", and then be picking himself up off the floor.
Especially if Junior is using Dad's cast-off PIII with 128 megs of
memory. Blow some minds and LIKE it! Grin Hugely! 
6.) This might be sacrilegious, but darn if I won't stretch the envelope
and put the real Java on board... right straight from the horse's mouth
as an net install during or after initial installation. The Real Deal.
Save yourself a dozen developers for other things and just use the real
Java install. You'll then gain the support of all the other real Java
developers for nothing but some goodwill.  
7.) I'd package FC; disks and handbooks, for the EDU crowd. Sell it as
cheap as possible or pick target EDU's and give the CD's and a xeroxed
installation notes away. Then reduce the upgrade to next version cycle
time in favor of more stability. That will not reduce RH sales, just
increase the user base. 
8.) Deal with RPM and ALSA. Maybe they've seen their day? 
9.) Keep your eyes on both fronts... the Debian Crowd (linux politically
correct) and the Suse/M$ crowd (great swag!) They're working on beating
your ass, "Right Now!", and they will if they can.
10.) Make multimedia creation capacities equal to or greater than
Apple's. You might have to scout out these people on SourceForge, KDE or
Freshmeat and hire them. If those people aren't coming to you in droves,
you are closer to the question to the answer you already have. Namely,
"We are not winning the hearts and minds of the average user." 

You got that for free, in Open Source Fashion. If this isn't passed up
to you, therein lies one of your problems. Ric

-- 
================================================
My father, Victor Moore (Vic) used to say:
"There are two Great Sins in the world...
..the Sin of Ignorance, and the Sin of Stupidity.
Only the former may be overcome." R.I.P. Dad.
Linux user# 44256 Sign up at: http://counter.li.org/
http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/oar
http://www.wayward4now.net
================================================

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