Re: [LI] Raghavendra Bhat's attacks on PC Quest

["Nagarjuna G." <nagarjun@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 21 Jan 2000, Atul Chitnis wrote:

->On Fri, 21 Jan 2000, Raghavendra Bhat wrote:
->
->> > RedHat funds people like Alan Cox whose contributions help make Linux what
->> > it is today. Does that make RedHat or Alan Cox anti-Linux?
->> 
->> No, it does not.  Can U say that this is not done out of Red Hat's
->> selfish interest ??  Maybe...maybe not.  I  do not want to speculate ;-)
->
->Oh god, what is the temperature in Cochin right now?
->
->> > You make use of your Linux knowledge to position yourself as a guru in
->> > Cochin, and clearly derive commercial benefits from this status.
->> >

A historian who is following the course of developments of linux
cannot ignore the essential, I repeat, the essential role played by
the commercial distributions in spreading the free/open source
software movement.  The place linux is enjoying today is due to the
spring-board thrust provided by the commercial distros, and not
debian/gnu. (Mind you, a GNU evangelist is saying this.) 

With regard to the indian scene, a similar spring-board thrust is
produced by PC-Quest and Chip.  Eventhough they are not distributing
debian, I am very happy with what is happening.  In the past I did
request PCQuest to consider distributing Debian, and I continue to
tell my friends who work for Chip to consider this. But just because
they are not doing this, I will not say that whatever they are doing
is purely because of commercial motivation or this or that.  Who am I
to read their motivations?  Redhat donates huge sums for open source
development, and has actively participated in developing the same. PCQ
has done the same by sponsoring the ITevent in Bangalore.  (It is
unnecessary to repeat all this, it has already been said here over and
over again.)  If RH or for that matter any other distro will do an
irresponsible product, they are bound to suffer.  If something is bad
it will die due its own *merit*.  If something is good, it will stay,
no matter what, due to its own *worth*.  The internal dynamics of open
source software movement cannot afford to and will not tolerate
mediocrity.

With regard to Atul I need not say anything, he is on his own and very
vocal.  But let me pay my respects, no one can ignore nor undermine
the the role he is playing for promoting linux in the country.

So, why am I saying all this.  Letus be brave to say the truth, even
if it hurts our guts. 

Nagarjuna










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