Re: Say it ain't so Rhat

[Mark Szidik - Michigan Library Consortium <szidikm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> ITS THE LAZY WAY TO FORCE THE CUSTOMER TO KEEP COMING BACK.


Unfortunately by "going public" their loyalties now lie with Wall Street
alone.  All that pressure to produce consistent quarterly growth and
profits is going to force Red Had to start operating a lot more like
the Wall Street darling Micro$oft.

Personally I think companies like RH, Caldera, SUSE, etc. should avoid
going public like the plague. 

______________________________________________________________________
Mark Szidik
System Administrator           Ph: 517.694.4242 x17  Fax: 517.694.9303 
Michigan Library Consortium    http://www.mlc.lib.mi.us

On Wed, 11 Aug 1999, Jim Pharis wrote:

> The open source model that has brought Redhat to where it is now is that you 
> can make open source code and still make money on it by excelling in areas 
> such as training and customer service. Robert Young spent an entire chapter 
> explaining that in the book I read.
> 
> The reason customers return to Redhat instead of going somewhere less 
> expensive is for a few simple reasons, Redhat's strong reputation and name 
> recognition.  Redhat's advantage will be that when people want quality stuff 
> they go to Redhat.
> 
> I will admit that the install wizard is not a big deal. However, in the 
> future Redhat might decide that they could make more money if maybe they 
> made the RPM proprietary software. It is an advantage for other companies to 
> use the Redhat Package Manager. It tells customers that Redhat is doing 
> something right if other companies are using their technology.
> 
> Even though the average computer user could not decipher source code from 
> Egyptian Hieroglyphics in the long run it is an advantage to them. With 
> proprietary software the customer becomes boxed in and must rely on that 
> company for help.
> 
> ITS THE LAZY WAY TO FORCE THE CUSTOMER TO KEEP COMING BACK.
> 
> 
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