So Long, SuSE, We Hardly Knew Ye!

[Ric Moore]

On Fri, 2006-11-03 at 21:04 +0000, ded wrote:

> Kurt,
> Apparently my last post, which was an apology. hastn't made it to the
> list as yet.

I just got it and I accept your apology. In reflection I may have been
just a little too harsh in my treatment of Gnome. But, I was witness to
the entire bashing tactics by the early Gnome developers against KDE who
were going WTF? as Troll Tech was doing their best to make the crossover
to Open Source in the days when the likes of NetScape was trying to do
the very same thing. It's a very tough call for a traditional closed
source company to go publicly open-source, and without the early support
by those companies, Linux would still be a tool for tool builders, not
users. My point still is that for a company like RedHat, Debian or
Ubuntu to remain viable, when the M$ camel has his nose in the tent,
something had better happen toot sweet to capture the teens into the
Linux camp or else we fold up and watch the farm hauled off in no more
than 4-5 years. I've been at it since 1978 and there are quite a few on
this list that hail back to punch-cards and toggle switches. I was one
of TWO people in the U.S. with BASF Chemicals that had a home computer,
back when. So, my computer hobby and my Chemical career have always been
intertwined. 

I have watched industry trends for a living. As I watched my chemical
competitors, I've also watched the computer industry. Market forces are
market forces no matter what. I see this episode with M$ to be a very
aggressive move on their part, responding to their industry pressures,
and it didn't happen yesterday. Those boys are far from dumb and play
for keeps. The only move to save the distros is to make Linux happen for
the users by targeting the teens, who in just a few short years, will be
the young adults who will want and demand what they embrace, at work. 

Everyone in customer support at RedHat was in their very early twenties.
Bob Young asked me, after I got my 30 day hire "Breakfast With Bob" and
my Red Fedora, if I knew why he hired me? I said sure! I was his goat
among his thoroughbreds! He smiled that Bob Young smile at me. He knew I
could do -some- Customer Support. But I wasn't the near the equal to
those 20 somethings, who just needed an older fart around that had some
social skills. I had a ball there with those young people. It was me
that put on the Hot Sauce eating contest at the last RedHat Expo, and I
had MadDog moderate that event. I cooked. I give what I can, when I can.

It's still about marketing though, no matter what. For Gnome to be
viable against KDE, according to my perceptions, it will have to
actually embrace some market strategies for teen-aged users, in order to
win their hearts and minds. I have not perceived this in the Gnome
project. I see more of it in the KDE project. As a Super User (a user
that can handle a tarball) and not as a Developer, I much prefer KDE.
That obstacle is one that you might be able to overcome within your
scope of influence. I really and truly hope you do. Or, merge Gnome and
KDE and get going on those hearts and minds. It would be the salvation
for all of us. Next step is to actually change the world. Ric 

-- 
================================================
My father, Victor Moore (Vic) used to say:
"There are two Great Sins in the world...
..the Sin of Ignorance, and the Sin of Stupidity.
Only the former may be overcome." R.I.P. Dad.
Linux user# 44256 Sign up at: http://counter.li.org/
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================================================