RedHat to dump retail shrinkwrap and change distro process
Red Hat is purportedly going to pretty much dump the retail consumer shrinkwrap business and change the way it does distro package control and "tuning".
The shrinkwrap death I can totally understand. I have purchased RedHat in a store, waaaay back when, but basically just for the novelty. The store versions are typically already behind the times and that is what seems to be the issue. Maintaing correct inventory levels of a pertinent product has been very difficult. However, its a bit confusing considering Red Hat earlier this year announced a change in which they would only be updating versions once a year, that seems to contradict it being so diffucult to maintain the right version on the shelf, oh well.
Also theReg says: According to Linux and Main, Red Hat will begin by making the development list public and will be returning package maintenance to the developers themselves, whereas currently Red Hat developers take control of the packages and tune them for inclusion in a particular version. This could be a significant change. Package developers have complained about RedHat "tuning" in the past and this would mean that seemingly RedHat will have much less control over matters. This one seems actually a bit strange (maybe this is the plan only for the new non commercial RedHat stuff which they are pretty much pissing on anyway, no more free support, no updates except once a year, etc).
For more see the linked Register article. Red Hat to dump retail, devolve package work: theRegister
Comments
Re: RedHat to dump retail shrinkwrap and change distro process
I am not too fond of this idea.
I feel that seeing the retail boxed version of RedHst in stores, legitimizes the OS a little more, to people who would not feel it worthy of a gander of it on the internet.
I think it is cheap advertising for RedHat.
Think about it... Even if only a couple of Shrink Wrapped versions are purchased from each store, it is a misson accomplished.
My first RedHat was a purchase of boxed redhat 5.2. I actually purchased a couple of other shrink-wrapped linux versions.... Mandrake 7.2,8.2... kind of for the novelty and they were very well priced.
I think its a dumb move to stop the physical and mental spread of Linux. Its another poor marketing idea for Linux in general. I've not seen one good Linux marketing campain. I strongly beleive IBM's marketing of Linux in general bites. It is too elitist style. I remember cruising up the westside highway in NYC, seeing IBM's cryptic Linux billboard...(the one with the pictures of "peace:, "love", "linux") The only people who would understand this is linux people. I asked quite a few people if they understood it, as you might have expected, no one had much of a clue what it meant.
So, summing it up... "retail shrinkwrap=time tested martketing"