Two big stories in the Linux world caused some chattering this week. Novell bought SuSe, the leading Linux vendor in Europe. Not long afterward, Red Hat announced it was getting out of the consumer Linux market.
Seems to me that Red Hat could use some good competition. The teaming-up of Suse with Novell says a lot to me in regards to the future of Linux. I think Novell will prove a champion of the open-source OS.
As for Red Hat, its catching a lot of flak from its grassroots supporters. And probably for good reason. I understand Red Hat’s purpose is to make money: and it IS making money. Their Fedora project is an effort to throw a bone to the little guys who helped make it what it is.
But its too easy to see this is just a bone. However they may try to spin it, it seems like Red Hat gets the jewels and the volunteer get the shrift. I suppose it always was that way, though, only now its official policy.
The geeks have always held up the Red Hat flag and pulled it into their datacenters. To overlook them in favor of executives is a strategic mistake by Red Hat. Those executives rely on their geek employees to educate them about technology. If those geeks decide that Red Hat is rewarding their loyalty by snubbing them, they can quickly turn the tide away from Red Hat.