On 01/11/18 17:31, mcatanzaro@xxxxxxxxx wrote: > On Thu, Nov 1, 2018 at 8:32 AM, Neal Gompa <ngompa13@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> These are questions I'm interested in answers on. However, I'm also >> worried about how much the "cloud" was mentioned in the presser. It >> makes me nervous about Red Hat's investment into other areas, which a >> lot of the Linux ecosystem relies on, even outside of the Fedora >> community. Desktop Linux, traditional server platforms, IoT, etc. look >> like areas that might be disinvested in. :( > > The press release's focus on cloud cloud cloud sure makes it sound like > desktop team will be first in line for cuts. I think it's quite natural for > Fedora Workstation users to be worried right now, given the lack of public > statement regarding the future of Red Hat's desktop work. It goes without > saying that Fedora will not have a very bright future if Red Hat's investment > in desktop and Workstation were to cease or be significantly reduced. > > Plus a lot of my friends work on desktop and they will be :( :( :( if their > jobs go away. Please, this is speculation. This does no good. Do notice these parts from the press release: - "IBM to maintain Red Hat’s open source innovation legacy, scaling its vast technology portfolio and *empowering its widespread developer community*" - "With this acquisition, IBM will *remain committed* to Red Hat’s open governance, open source contributions, *participation in the open source* *community* and development model, and fostering its widespread developer ecosystem." - "Upon closing of the acquisition, Red Hat will join IBM’s Hybrid Cloud team *as a distinct unit*, preserving the *independence* and *neutrality* of Red Hat’s open source development heritage and commitment, current product portfolio and go-to-market strategy, and unique development culture. Red Hat will continue to be led by Jim Whitehurst and Red Hat’s current management team. [...] IBM intends to *maintain* Red Hat’s headquarters, facilities, *brands* and *practices*." (my own emphasizing) All can be found here: <https://www.redhat.com/en/about/press-releases/ibm-acquire-red-hat-completely-changing-cloud-landscape-and-becoming-worlds-1-hybrid-cloud-provider> And more details: - <https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/red-hat-ibm-creating-leading-hybrid-cloud-provider> In addition, according to zdnet [0]: 'Arvind Krishna, IBM's senior vice president of hybrid cloud, said: "Red Hat must, and will, remain independent."' This is a fairly strong statement from IBM. [0] <https://www.zdnet.com/article/red-hat-an-independent-barony-in-the-kingdom-of-ibm/> Lots can be said about IBM. But despite the rumours on the street, IBM isn't stupid. They have not spend 34 billion dollars to whack any chances of success and even jeopardise the chance of getting something really valuable back in return. The cloud services IBM provides can benefit from the knowledge and experience Red Hat employees have. But these employees will not get that experience or being able to move forward if the RHEL stops innovating. And RHEL builds on Fedora. And if IBM managed to really mess this up, they will loose a great community which has helped Red Hat by far way achieving the position they have. Bare in mind that Red Hat's mission statement is all about this: "To be the catalyst in communities of customers, contributors, and partners creating better technology the open source way." With this deal, IBM didn't just get the Red Hat brand and Red Hat employees. They also got a thriving and engaged community. And a good leadership is able to see this and the value this gives. The Red Hat leadership definitely sees this and I'm pretty sure they will ensure IBM understands this too. Plus, IBM is not unfamiliar with open source and they also drive their own open source projects too. Just look at what they've done on the POWER platforms and the OpenPower projects they've helped fuelling. If IBM plays their cards well and also pays good attention to the advices I am sure the Red Hat leadership will give them, this can go very well - for all - including the Fedora community. Now, you raise concerns about Fedora Workstation. But what is the fundamental base this variant of Fedora builds on? Fedora Workstation, Fedora Server and Fedora Atomic all builds on the same fundamental base. And what wouldn't be a better way to ensure Fedora is growing further into the developer areas than to have a solid Fedora based desktop on top of the server side? My point is, jeopardizing Fedora Workstation doesn't only reduce the desktop experience; it impacts the bigger scope of what Fedora is. It puts the whole "empowering widespread developer community" statement at risk. Plus ... IBM does not, will not and can not manage or control the community itself regardless of Red Hat being acquired or not. It can only manage the people on their payroll in regards to what they work on in their working hours. But the best way to kill passion is to tell people what not to do. And this would go completely against the statement of the Senior Vice President Arvind Krishna at IBM said: "Red Hat must, and will, remain independent". What would IBM in the end benefit from by killing passion and risking reducing the impact Fedora has in a bigger scale - which is what drives RHEL - and provides the knowledge and experience needed in the future cloud solutions? I do believe Fedora, as a whole, plays a fundamental role in the bigger ecosystem for RHEL and towards the hybrid cloud everyone works towards. Fedora plays a role providing a good experience and platform, all from the developers and the sys-admins perspective to the end users, leading the way towards the future enterprise solutions. Which is why IBM wanted Red Hat. -- kind regards, David Sommerseth
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