Hats, Caps, Stetsons, Fedoras = Linux

The big news in the Linux world is that RedHat is no longer going to support the current versions of its RedHat Linux (6.x, 7.x, 8.0, and 9.0) after this coming April. Some think this means the sky is falling.

Of course, as this reply to the Slashdot article says, its hardly that. In fact, as several of the linked articles state, RedHat is pushing people towards Fedora, which is basically the beta of the next version of RedHat. I'm looking forward to the changes, as Fedora is supposed to be more "bleeding edge" with updates, something 'normal' RedHat Linux was slow to adopt, because of the testing that goes into a product that a commercial company charges for.

If you read the Zone-H article, it would seem that its the end for "free software" ala Linux. It's time to move to some version of BSD or other 'free' distributions of Linux. Of course, there are literally hundreds of available distros for Linux. The author of the article even begins whining...well you read it:

"WhiteHat should be the 'good' hackers, while 'BlackHat' the bad ones (the bad guys). What does RED stands for ? If you hope it was meant for communism.... it looks dramaticaly just like the passage from Lenin to Stalin: from revolution, spirit of freedom and unity of people, to just another dictatorship. Thank you RedHat."

So Communism is good, Dictatorship is bad.

Actually, both are bad. Which is why Linux is going more commercial. Find something that is useful. Improve it, like RedHat (or any of the other distros compiled by commercial companies) did, and then charge for your efforts. It's the way commerce works.

But many of these Linux zealots seem like they are straight out of the 60's with communal farming = community programming.

It just doesn't work in the long run.

Since the core of Linux will always be free unless the GPL is revoked, anyone has the ability to roll your own. So quit whining, you want free stuff? Build it yourself. You want a nice packaged deal that does all the work for you? Pay the people who take the time to do it. Since the Fedora project takes input from the users and developers who get it for free, they are paying for the distro with the labor. It's still not free.