On Feb 5, 2004, at 6:25 AM, Craig White wrote:


> ---
> journalism declined a long time ago and that discussion would range far
> from the topic at hand.

While it may have been in decline for a long time it has clearly gotten 
worse recently.

> FOSS doesn't have a voice since it has no money.

That's only part of the problem. It has an image of geekyness that 
plays right into the prejudices of the press. The financial press in 
particular loves to pander to what they perceive as the prejudices of 
their clientele. I am merely trying to suggest that just as the general 
public probably cares a lot less about Janet Jackson's breast than you 
would think by reading the general media, the business community is 
probably more sophisticated than one would suspect from reading the 
financial press.

> The only face that FOSS
> has is the moneyed parties that use FOSS such as Dell, IBM, Red Hat. If
> I have failed to make a point - it is a point that I've expressed at
> least twice before, it's that Red Hat serves a purpose for businesses 
> to
> latch onto the FOSS product - it's a comfort zone. The business
> mindset...I can feel satisfied because I paid for it, I can count on
> somebody to be there to share my misery if things go wrong.

I don't think anybody disagrees with this. I think conveying that 
feeling of comfort is what people mean by being a brand. At this point 
Red Hat and SUSE are brands. Bruce Perens wants  to make UserLinux a 
brand too. I think that's a noble effort and much of what he proposes 
has merit. I just don't think you establish a brand by unfairly 
knocking the competition.