On Tue, 2003-12-02 at 07:31, David B Harris wrote: > On Mon, 01 Dec 2003 11:45:35 -0800 > Bruce Perens <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I am still negotiating with the large industry group that approached me > > about this project. When the price tag is north of $1M, it takes time. > > If that works out, they would fund 3-5 engineers full-time, plus myself > > and an admin to work on the aspects of this project that are important > > to their industry group. And only their industry group. Thus, there is > > room for participation of a number of vendors and/or industry groups, as > > well as direct participation by all of the various entities that would > > participate in Debian. > > Are you still on good terms with some people at HP? I don't even think > we need funding, per se. I wouldn't mind getting paid well for the work > I do, but that's a rarity. (Why does money always need to get involved?)
To the level you are prepared to contribute, with or without funding, a big thanks! And a double thanks when you do so without funding. That said, if _any_ of us can get funding for what we do, we absolutely, unequivocally should, in my opinion. I see no reason for money not to enter discussions, if it is along the lines of "here's a possibility one or more of us can get paid for at least some of the work we do". I see such conversations as particularly valuable (multiple meanings). > What I'd really like to see is a company providing input, serving as a > central point for customer contact, and above all, actually > *supporting* the use of the end-product. ie: not being hostile to users Service companies are the foundation of a truly *free* free market economy. Much closer to true competition and therefore optimal [resource use|price to consumers|efficiency of production]. Either go start such a beast, or support those that already provide such service, if you are so inclined to either. > who run it, as is so often the case these days. I can't count the number > of times I've heard horror stories from HP customers (and other vendors > as well) about people being unable to RMA hardware because they're using BTW, what's RMA stand for? > a decent software bundle that they're familiar with and can maintain, as > opposed to whatever outdated and bastardised crap was included with the > hardware. Hopefully things will improve. And the more money we can get as developers within the community, the better. > Okay, that sort of turned into a rant :) I do apologise, but I'd > desperately like to help dispell the stigma that's associated with > anything non-Red Hat. I haven't personally come across such stigma at all. In fact my experience is that Debian is somewhat esteemed, *technically*. I think it has been perceived, though, that to be "pure and free", one must not be "tainted" by consideration of money. But that's complete bunk. That's some poor-me's communistic dream. Take away motivation from people and you end up with not only an expectation that all should be provided for without lifting a finger, but poverty-conscious sorry states of living that are a complete crock. Now _I'm_ really ranting (and seriously, nothing personal in the slightest). Self-responsibility; intelligence; ability. If you've got it, make good use of it, and Do Good Things (TM). cheers zen -- Debian Enterprise: A Custom Debian Distribution: http://debian-enterprise.org/ * Homepage: http://soulsound.net/ * PGP Key: http://soulsound.net/zen.asc * Please respect the confidentiality of this email as sensibly warranted.
