Re: Ubuntu and Dell

On Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 11:19 AM, Matt Graham <danceswithcrows@usa.net> wrote:
> From: "Joshua Zeidner" <jjzeidner@gmail.com>
> > Matt Graham wrote:
>
> >> Eric "Shubes" wrote:
> >>> Anyone been to the Ubuntu home page lately? It's sporting Dell desktop
> and
> >>> notebooks which come with Ubuntu preloaded (and certified).
> >> "Dude! They've SOLD OUT! Bummer, man! I was using Ubuntu *before* it
> >> was mainstream! Their early CDs were, like, really something...."
>
> > I'm not sure they've 'SOLD OUT!'... but rather found a way to
> > finance what they want to do, which is work on Ubuntu, I'm not sure if
> > its right to suspect some kind of devious motive. As long as they are
> > using legitimate OSS licenses, whats the difference?
>
> That was me channeling the "I listened to $BAND *before* they were
> mainstream!!1!" scenester community. I thought the rest of that message
> made that clear... guess not.

scenester community??? hah!

>
>
> > It seems to me that Linux people have some very deeply ingrained phobia
> > of all commercial transactions.
>
> Not all. It's just that when money gets involved in a thing where there
> was very little money before, that thing starts to attract people who
> care more about the money than about the original goals of the thing.

very very true. BUT IT ALSO ATTRACTS PEOPLE WHO ARE SERIOUS ABOUT IT!

> That can cause problems in the short and long term. And of course, many
> of us remember the dot-bomb era and the money just going *poof* overnight.
>

yeah, *poof* ... I remember that!

>
> > Sure Dell is going to find all sorts of ways to exploit the
> > community, and its our job to keep track of those things and keep each
> > other informed.
>
> I don't think they're dumb enough to violate the GPLv2.

one last comment, the GPL in any version has made few, if any
appearances in court. As these trends progress, corporate interest
will no doubt start to put more and more pressure on the legal
semantics of the GPL. Will it break? or will it bend? or will it
strengthen? maybe Eben Moglen will save us!

- http://www.joshuazeidner.com/
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