...making Linux just a little more fun!
Rick Moen [rick at linuxmafia.com]
Trying to figure out how little they can do?
----- Forwarded message from Matt Mattox <[email protected]> -----
Date: Thu, 05 Jul 2007 13:20:56 -0400 From: Matt Mattox <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Subject: RHX and License ClarityHi Rick,
Just a quick note responding to your comment in the "More About RHX" section of RHX. We're working on a solution that will make the license approach used by each RHX software vendor very clear to users, including whether or not they are OSI-approved. I'd love to get your feedback on our approach if you have the time and interest. Let me know....
Thanks, Matt Product Manager, RHX
----- End forwarded message -----
----- Forwarded message from Rick Moen <[email protected]> -----
Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2007 11:02:52 -0700 From: Rick Moen <[email protected]> To: Matt Mattox <[email protected]> Subject: Re: RHX and License ClarityQuoting Matt Mattox ([email protected]):
> Just a quick note responding to your comment in the "More About RHX" > section of RHX. We're working on a solution that will make the license > approach used by each RHX software vendor very clear to users, including > whether or not they are OSI-approved. I'd love to get your feedback on > our approach if you have the time and interest. Let me know....
Hi, Matt. Thank you for your note.
The main problem is actually the statements on the RHX main Web pages that serve as entry points to RHX (and, in the recent past, by all RHX press releases). For example:
Starts out with "Trusted open source software" -- without saying that some offerings are open source and some proprietary -- and goes on for the entire page talking how RHX has helped you select open source applications, etc.http://rhx.redhat.com/rhx/support/article/DOC-1285 ("More about RHX" page)
Starts out with "Red Hat Exchange helps you compare, buy, and manage open source business applications. All in one place and backed by the open source leader. We've collaborated with our open source software partners to validate that RHX applications run on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and are delivered through the Red Hat Network."Letting people _dig down_ to licensing specifics would be nice but wouldn't fix the problem of false and misleading general statements everyone encounters on the way in. The latter should be replaced without delay.
And future RHX press releases should mention that it includes both proprietary and open source applications.
The longer the delay in fixing this problem, the more Red Hat's reputation for integrity is suffering. Please make no mistake: Your firm is being damaged by this.
----- End forwarded message -----
Rick Moen [rick at linuxmafia.com]
It's credible that someone in Marketing went off the reservation in the first place, in creating the deceptive Web pages and press release text, but it strains credulity to suppose that nobody within the firm had noticed the misrepresentation of fact, over several months.
I find the feet-dragging disappointing. They should be rushing to fix this.
----- Forwarded message from Matt Mattox <[email protected]> -----
Date: Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:23:02 -0400 From: Matt Mattox <[email protected]> To: Rick Moen <[email protected]> Subject: Re: RHX and License ClarityRick,
Thanks for the quick response.
You raise some great points. You're right about the marketing copy in those sections. We'll take a shot at updating them. We're also working with the OSI to provide easy-to-understand descriptions of what users can, and can not, do according to each license agreement on RHX. Stay tuned...and let me know if you have other thoughts.
Thanks! Matt
[[[ Quoted material snipped -- Kat ]]]
----- End forwarded message -----
Rick Moen [rick at linuxmafia.com]
I wrote:
> It's credible that someone in Marketing went off the reservation in the > first place, in creating the deceptive Web pages and press release text, > but it strains credulity to suppose that nobody within the firm had > noticed the misrepresentation of fact, over several months. > > I find the feet-dragging disappointing. They should be rushing to fix > this.
I'm also somewhat reminded of a quotation passed along, recently, by my friend Karsten Self, who heard it from a career Army officer: "It's difficult to hold a conversation with someone whose livelihood requires that he not understand you."
-- Cheers, English is essentially an imprecise dialect of Java, Rick Moen without the object orientation. [email protected] --Julian Morrison, http://ccil.org/~cowan/essential.html