Re: Xandros, Lindows, Debian, the future of distros

[mike808@users.sourceforge.net]

> To my knowledge, most OSS/free systems for resizing use parted to do the 
> dirty work.  Parted's chart for filesystem compatibility does not yet 
> include NTFS.  So, if Xandros can resize XP partitions, it's probably a 
> Xandros-proprietary thing. 
 
I'll look into it, since I have it.  
 
> even some other projects that divide the community, like OpenSSL  
> (which isn't really their fault, but still) and GNU Readline. 
 
I don't understand the last two. Or did you mean OpenSSH? 
 
> People who poison the well should not be encouraged in that endeavor. 
 
> If this is too much of a problem, I'm sure Lindows (or whoever) will be 
> forced to beef up their packaged disk set or hope and pray for DVD-ROM 
> ubiquity. 
 
That only turns 3 CDs into 1 DVD, and the media costs aren't there yet. 
It's still cheaper to burn CDs. 
 
I wonder if their's room for a CD-based magazine (e.g. MaximumLinux) that 
would be distro-based (i.e. MandrakeMonthly) where you "subscribe" to a 
CD-based support plan. Instead of pushing the release cycles up, you 
push the update CD release cycles up. Too often, "upgrade CDs" are offered 
too little, too late. Obviously an incentive to purchase another full copy 
at full retail, but I think there's room for a new model there. 
 
> If a university is using a resource, they can usually justify bandwidth 
> costs resulting from hosting the resource locally.  This is especially 
> true if the alternative is having lots of students use the upstream pipe 
> for downloading their software instead of the local on-campus mirror. 
 
But there's no incentive for the U to open the site for access from the 
internet, as is widely the case now. 
  
> The support issue is a big one.  The solution, of course, is to buy 
> support for apt-based systems.  Not many people are doing that right 
> now. 
 
Are there others besides RHN, ClickNRun, and (soon) Xandros Networks? 
  
Or were you advocating buying apt/urpmi/whatever update support from whatever 
your distro is? 
 
How is that different than buying new versions outright, as many of us do? 
 
Do we have a chicken-and-egg with buying new vs support? 
 
Hmm. I see where you might be going with Debian having the freedom to  
explore this, not being wed to shareholders, or a particular marketing 
strategy. 
 
Mike808/


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