Fedora.NEXT Products and the fate of Spins

[Paul W. Frields]

On Thu, Jan 30, 2014 at 02:22:59PM +0000, "Jóhann B. Guðmundsson" wrote:
> 
> On 01/30/2014 02:02 PM, Frank Murphy wrote:
> >On Thu, 30 Jan 2014 14:59:44 +0100
> >Johannes Lips <johannes.lips at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >>Well, but it's not only about money and a lot of contributors use
> >>their spare time to contribute, so I wouldn't stress this money thing
> >>too much.
> >>
> >I didn't introduce the money angle,
> >just putting into Common language,
> >what has been inferred.
> 
> One would think that Red Hat's community sponsorship is not a
> “venture capital” or "Investment" sponsorship but that it is a
> community sponsorship as it so clearly states everywhere but
> apparently Red Hat looks at it that way that it "owns" the
> community.

>From your posts I undersetand that you believe that there is an entity
"Red Hat" that has a single thought process and attitude.  This is
patently untrue since Red Hat is a company made up of many people and
they have differing opinions.  Please stop painting everyone with one
brush.  It's not only non-constructive but it makes it less likely
over time that people interested in constructive discussion will
listen or participate.  It would have been nice had the conversation
started with a less incendiary idea than "pay to play," but hyperbole
doesn't help.

Now, that being said, I can tell you from personal experience that
past Boards have debated the value of Spins too, and there's nothing
sacred about questioning that value.  One could argue OLPC, a Fedora
Remix, achieved better visibilty and prominence than any Fedora spin.
A million laptops out there boot with "Fedora Remix" on their startup
screen, after all -- although certainly they are aging out.  Coupled
with better hosting and creation options, along with solving potential
legal issues, I think a community could be just as easily built (maybe
more so) around a Remix.

So let's not start by putting too much sacred value on the term
"Spin."  Rather, let's think about what specific technical and
community-building problems are caused by using Remixes, how to solve
them, and then consider that effort on balance against status quo.

-- 
Paul W. Frields                                http://paul.frields.org/
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