From owner-freebsd-chat Thu Sep 9 8:32: 1 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from sumatra.americantv.com (sumatra.americantv.com [208.139.222.227]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5C4E814CCF; Thu, 9 Sep 1999 08:31:57 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from jlemon@americantv.com) Received: from right.PCS (right.PCS [148.105.10.31]) by sumatra.americantv.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id KAA27903; Thu, 9 Sep 1999 10:31:46 -0500 (CDT) Received: from free.pcs (free.PCS [148.105.10.51]) by right.PCS (8.8.5/8.6.4) with ESMTP id KAA21189; Thu, 9 Sep 1999 10:31:45 -0500 (CDT) Received: (from jlemon@localhost) by free.pcs (8.8.6/8.8.5) id KAA27521; Thu, 9 Sep 1999 10:31:45 -0500 (CDT) Date: Thu, 9 Sep 1999 10:31:45 -0500 (CDT) From: Jonathan Lemon Message-Id: <199909091531.KAA27521@free.pcs> To: brett@lariat.org, chat@freebsd.org, jkh@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Market share and platform support X-Newsgroups: local.mail.freebsd-chat In-Reply-To: References: Organization: Architecture and Operating System Fanatics Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org In article you write: >At 10:08 PM 9/8/99 -0700, Jordan K. Hubbard wrote: Sorry to jump in here, but an objective (outside) opinion might be useful: >I'm not asking for an endorsement; one shouldn't need one to proceed >with the creation and marketing of an open source operating system >distribution. Anyone should be able to take the code and run with >it. What I (and they) are concerned about is that the effort not be >blocked by Walnut Creek CD-ROM, which has the power to do that because >it controls the development process. Since I'd invest a significant >portion of my time and they'd invest a bunch of money, this is important. Brett, do your research. This has already been done, so there is already a precedent. CheapBytes sells a FreeBSD distribution, you don't see WC jumping all over them? Pacific HiTech too, although I think they are now part of (or affilated with) WC. I also remember hearing that there are several distributions in Japan, where FreeBSD is popular; I'm sure that not all of them are from WC. I can't exactly see what you're after here. The license on the FreeBSD code proper says nothing about WC. The fact that they employ several committers is irrelevant. If it was a factor, you would also have to extend that to include all the companies which various committers work for. (Yahoo, MIT, Juniper, Whistle, etc.) I think, based on the development history of FreeBSD _and_ Linux, it's safe to say that this is a non-issue. I further predict that if WC ever attempted to lay claim to the FreeBSD CVS repository, Poul, Søren, Garrett and several others would immediatly set up an alternate site somewhere else. What it sounds like you're asking is: 1. "I want to go off and do my own distribution based on FreeBSD". 2. "I want assurance that FreeBSD Inc. will not undercut or discredit me". As far as I can tell, you don't need permission to do #1. #2 isn't reasonable. Anybody who gives you a blanket assurance like that is either lying or needs their head examined. Your business will succeed or fail on its own merits. It strongly smells to me like you're fishing for a "non-compete" agreeement. Also, based on your prior arguments, you seem to be arguing things both ways. Either a lot of the credit for increased FreeBSD popularity is due to Jordan (who is working the trade shows and popular press), or it is actually due to you (working behind the scenes), in which case Jordan's efforts are irrelevant. If the latter is the case, why are you so damned worried about his actions? And don't wave that "But Jordan tells people that FreeBSD is for servers, and I want to target the desktop; I want him to stop saying that!" argument at me. From a business perspective, this should be considered a good thing. It allows you to carve out your own niche, and have a strong selling point which allows you to differentiate yourself from the other (WC) distribution. In short: 1. You don't need permission or endorsements from FreeBSD, Inc. 2. WC cannot stand in your way. If you want assurances that they won't compete with you, you won't get it. Is this a fair summary? In closing, I'll note that you don't necessarily need support or goodwill from Jordan to succeed. Take a look at Etinc, for example. -- Jonathan To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message