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Ask Robert Young
Posted by
Roblimo
on Thu Apr 05, 2001 11:00 AM
from the people-who-wear-colorful-headgear dept.
from the people-who-wear-colorful-headgear dept.
Yes, that Bob Young. The one who helped endow online information resource ibiblio.org, but is better known for his role as co-founder and Chairman of Red Hat. Ask him anything you want, but please hold it down to one question per post. We'll send 10 of the highest-moderated inquiries to Bob (who is in England this week), and he'll send back his answers just as soon as he can.
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Second favorite distribution? (Score:3)
Alex Bischoff
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Red Hat Acquisitions (Score:5)
Q: How do you see these acquisitions as helping Red Hat and its position in the market?
Most important decision for RH? (Score:4)
Free- and Non-Free Software getting along? (Score:5)
The venerable Richard Stallman has a habit of saying that all software should be free -- he is therefor not interested in making Free Software too interoperable with Commercial, Closed-Source software.
On the other had, the also venerable Linus Torvalds has an opposite view; that free software has it's place and that non-free software also has place, and that all efforts should be made to make them co-exist.
Since you have on foot in each world, as it were, what are your feelings on this? Should Free and Open source software be expected to "play nice" with software from various Evil Empires? Or should it concentrate only on relation with other like software projects, and require the commercial world adapt to cooperating with Free software?
Do you think a recession will help RedHat/Linux? (Score:5)
We had an Ask Slashdot a few days ago wondering whether a recession will help Linux or not. Since you're the CEO of RedHat, you probably have a better idea as to what effect a recession will have on RedHat and Linux. So, do you think you will gain more market share during a recession than you would otherwise?
Competing against MacOSX (Score:5)
Re:Hey! (Score:3)
Other Dists (Score:3)
Who decides what goes in and how? (Score:5)
For example, I've seen pre-releases of KDE get included and updated in rawhide (and I believe in actual Red Hat releases) rather often, but even the individual GNOME components are almost never updated until well after a full stable release is announced. There are other examples, but that's the main one that comes to mind.
There also still seems to be a lot of 0.x version software in Red Hat to this day. So, I'm just curious how you make these technical decisions are made.
Why invest in RedHat? (Score:5)
RedHat has the biggest name recognition of all the Linux distributions. To many non-tech types Linux == RedHat. And you are now breaking even, yet despite that RedHat's stock went from $80 a share to less than $5 and there doesn't seem to be a sign of that turning around.
What do you say to people who ask why they should invest in RedHat? Also, as a high-tech company I'm sure employees got stock options, how are they dealing with the crash in share prices and how do you convince them their options are still worth something?
Security (Score:5)
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Your impressions on the recent MS Interview (Score:5)
Problems with RPM. (Score:3)
First, a small rant. The primary "ideal" source of information for how to package rpm's is of course the book "Maximum RPM".
However, this book is not available online in html format. It is however available in postscript which is easily read in X windows on a redhat machine.
However, *some* of us dont use X windows, and for us select few, we cant view it. I have however, converted it from that format to text, losing much of the styling and formatting.
In the spirit of open source, dont you feel that it is completely BACKWARDS to have a open source tool, where the documentation that allows developers to package using it is proprietary, non-open, and subject to licensing restrictions?!!?
The man page doesnt even *mention* half the creation commandline options, and I think that was on purpose.
Compunding the issue is the fact that the book has not been updated in years, let alone since the coming of rpm4!
As a developer, I would love to hear why you dont want me to package using your system. The reasons outlined above lead me to that conclusion.
Packaging standards (Score:3)
This of course presuming that upon reaching that status, it has features that are comparable or better than rpm. (Which the current FreeBSD ports/pkg system CERTAINLY has acheived -- wouldnt you agree?)
Further, have you considered switching to the apt-get/deb system? It is the number one reason most people seem to switch to debian, and in every way I know of seems to be superior technically to rpm.
Hardware support (Score:4)
Linux is not in that state, save for (perhaps) networking devices. Has RedHat considered helping to fund driver development for other forms of hardware? I'm thinking mostly of 3D accelerated video cards (by helping to fund the DRI group), but other items (scanners, USB->IDE interfaces, etc.) would be nice too.
A unified desktop? (Score:3)
Using code from other Linux distributions (Score:4)
Loosening the golden ring from Microsoft's grasp (Score:3)
This is the same question I asked Doug Miller of Microsoft:
When Compaq (later followed by others) loosened the GoldenRing from IBM's grasp by reverse engineering theirproprietary bios, theOpen Hardware PC platform revolution was ignited.Motherboards, memory, adapter cards, etc... could be made byanybody; hardwareinnovation increased at a rapid pace, and prices plummeted.
That left only two proprietary pieces atop the Open HardwarePC: the Intel CPU and the Microsoft OS.
Intel's been losing ground, especially with clone maker AMD(but, AMD still has to pay Intel royalties for every cloneprocessor).
The OS, though, has proven tough to emulate. Not only doesit reach the pinnacle of complexity (where chaos kicks in),but any emulatormust chase Microsoft's tail: the emulation will be worthlesscome Microsoft's next OS patch (i.e. the DRDOS settlement).
In Judge Jackson's findings in the Microsoft Antitrust case, he concluded that Linux is not positioned to overtake Windows, because it isn't Windows compatible.People won't switch because of the training costs and potential for incompatibility with their existing data.
Personally, I believe Open Source is a software revolution, just on a different tangent from the average user. In order to win over the average user: they don't just need a great desktop, they need full Windows compatibility.
How will Open Source lure the average user from Windows?
Mandrake (Score:5)
How do you feel about the fact that Red Hat Linux was 'the womb' of what would now have to be considerer one of the strongest Linux distros for the desktop, and a major competitior to Red Hat on the desktop with it's claimed "99% Red Hat compatibility"?
Linux Standards Base (Score:3)
Re:Problems with RPM. (Score:3)
What the hell are you talking about? Why on earth would you need X to read a PostScript document? GhostScript will run on damn near anything.
Not only that, but the book is available in LaTeX source form. That pretty much guarantees that it's available on just about any computer and any operating system that's come out in the last 15 or 20 years. LaTeX is so ubiquitous that if you have a spare IBM PCjr from 1984, an old black and white TV for a monitor, and no hard drive, you can probably use it to format and preview the document. I would also be very suprised if you could find any working printer that could not be used to typeset that book.
You're just trolling here, and you know it.
RedHat and Microsoft .NET (Score:5)
((Interoperability || Freedom) && Future) == ? (Score:3)
For example, we Linux users have a choice of either KDE or Gnome for a desktop. We have a choice of prompts, choice of window managers, choice of MANY different things. For the tech-head, this is great. Freedom in development is great. Though, for the average, ever-elusive novice Linux user, this freedom to choose is complicated and can be very confusing.
How is Red Hat planning on this interoperability/easy user experience without pigeon-holeing(sp?) themselves into one market or another, or splintering into sub-distributions?
The Desktop (Score:3)
MS vs. Open Source business model (Score:4)
What is your reaction to this comment, and do you think the current Open Source business model works? Does it need to be changed?
It's the economy, stupid (Score:3)
Standardization (Score:5)
Doug Miller, a Microsoft executive, was recently interviewed for Slashdot. Many of the questions posed were regarding the competitiveness of Linux with Windows in the medium-term. To paraphrase, Rob said that there was no viable business model based on Linux, that the lack of standardization (ie. KDE v. Gnome) would be enough of an economic disincentive to commercial application developers to prevent them from venturing into the market.
On the face of it, he seems to have a point. What do you think? Does Linux need to be herded down the path towards a super-majority recognized 'standard' to be successful, or can the type of open-source movement to date provide enough tools and applications to drive Linux to dominance?
Would you really recommend it for desktop use? (Score:5)
Bob, if you had a non-technical friend or relative who currently uses Windows, Quicken, Office, IE and AOL, could you in good conscience tell him it would be in his best interest to use Linux instead? What exactly would be in it for him?
Unsettling MOTD at my ISP.
DMCA a threat to open source? (Score:3)
Do you think that laws such as the DMCA pose a threat to open source software, in that they may lead to the creation of proprietary, encrypted file formats, running only on proprietary operating systems, for media such as films, music and books?
Red Hat Future Desktops (Score:3)
Question (Score:4)
SPARC Platform Edition? (Score:4)
Where do you see Linux profitable growth areas? (Score:3)
My question is, where do you see the profitable areas of Linux as being for Red Hat (or other distros)? Is it embedded systems more than servers, or info appliances? And has the introduction of major players such as IBM into the Linux R&D space been a help or a hindrance to Linux growth?
Can the Server Biz Subsidize Desktop Dev? (Score:4)
Let's be optimistic and assume that RedHat will achieve profitability through its support services for businesses running RedHat Linux.
Would it then make sense for RedHat to use some of its resources to help intensify the struggle towards desktop-readiness for Linux?
It seems to me that would be a good thing to do, since it could help expand the RedHat user community, ergo the customer base for RedHat's services... especially if Linux could become a viable desktop OS for larger enterprises, in which case RedHat, as the leading distro brand, would probably get the lion's share of support contracts.
Do you see this happening? Why or why not?
thanx.
- frosty
www.medienkunst.com [medienkunst.com]
Re:The Real Story (Score:3)
Dream Deal? (Score:3)
What do you think RedHat's "dream deal" would be?
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