On 5/29/05, Bryan J. Smith <b.j.smith@xxxxxxxx> <thebs413@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> From: Collins Richey <crichey@xxxxxxxxx>
> > It's just too bad that there is really nothing on offer for these
> > former customers. Please don't suggest Fedora. The customers who are
> > complaining the loudest are not interested in experimental versions.
>
> To me, the quality of Fedora Core is no better or no less than Red Hat
> Linux
> before it. One thing I _do_ find is that people are making claims on Red
> Hat
> Linux that were _never_ true.
>
[ snips ]
> Which is why I scratch my head. Especially when you compare what
> people want and the fact that there's virtually no other company that
> offers it. Even SuSE doesn't make it's 2 year guarantees, and they
> are yanking support on SuSE Linux 7.
>
> It's almost like there is this Red Hat Linux product that existed like
> a myth, a word-of-mouth fairy tale. And that's what just makes me
> roll my eyes.
>
You're probably right. Some of this is mythology, but it's an
all-pervasive myth!
I roll my eyes when I hear how good and great and all-virtuous RedHat
is, and I roll my eyes when I hear some of the complaints about
RedHat. As is always (at least since the time of ancient Greece) the
case, somewhere in the middle lies truth. I'm just thankful that
CentOS makes the RedHat software with all its benefits AND warts
available to a wider audience. I'm essentially a believer in FOSS. I
would never purchase a shrink-wrapped RedHat were it still available,
nor do I have any need for an SLA, but I'm very thankful that RedHat
fully subscribes to the GPL and makes its SRPM's available.
As a wiser person than I said in another post, it doesn't help much to
tell someone who is used to having a particular feature that he can't
have that any more and why. Even less does it help to tell that person
that he is an ignorant fool and better off without that feature. He's
still going to be bitter about the missing feature(s), and he will
assign blame to the vendor even though it may not be the vendor's
fault.
As a fitting end to this discussion on my part, I offer the PotShot
cartoon I've had on my fridge for many years. The cartoon shows two
people on the opposite rims of a vast canyon, and one of them says:
"Come over to my side. The view is much clearer from here."
--
Collins
Head teachers of the world unite: you have nothing to lose but
the Start button.
