Note: I am not confirming the story by linking to it (nor, by the way, am I denying it by adding a proviso). I simply find it interesting how positive the analysts are about Debian’s chances against Red Hat and Novell/SUSE, if we can get our act together (Laura DiDio’s comment about the vulnerability of Novell is interesting, and something I’ve been pointing out for a while).
Some may read the remarks and wonder why I see them as positive (after all, about the best we get is “it might work”). Simple: Taken in the context of what these folks normally say when asked whether a distro can successfully take on the incumbents, “it might work” is a ringing endorsement, and in any case, it’s pretty clear the general consensus is if anyone can do it, it’s Debian.
Ian,
I’m wondering if this is really the best thing for Debian. Humans prefer to be associated with, or be the winners/rock stars/#1 whatever in some small or large way. And Debian rightly holds big-time rock-star status in the Linux world.
Debian and Debian ONLY should be driving the innovation, maintaining the #1 “rock-star” status of the distro it so richly earned.
I don’t see Debian driving anything with this kind of arrangement. What I see is, “Thanks, we’ll take it from here.” from a bunch of distros that weren’t smart enough to do this a long time ago!
This move also monetizes the Debian project in a way as to make two distros. I think the focus would create pressure away from “doing it right” to the “quick and dirty” while making Debian (doing it right all along) the red-headed-step-child. (ex. Red Hat & Ubuntu)
If Debian’s not leading, then what’s it doing?
I hope my arguements are coherent enough for others to read, and I hope they read as constructive criticism as opposed to shouldn’t/couldn’t/wouldn’t.