On Thu, Jan 21, 2016 at 12:08:19PM +0000, Simon Hobson wrote:
> KatolaZ <katolaz@???> wrote:
>
> > Well, not everybody pays his bills developing open source software,
> > but if I were a Debian developer, who had adhered to the debian Social
> > Contract [1], I would find it difficult to organise a fest to
> > celebrate Microsoft offering Debian as an option on its
> > azure-whatever. Call me a hippy, if you want, but I do see some
> > incoherence there.
>
> What if we s/Microsoft/Rackspace/
> (you can use pretty well any hosting outfit really)
> The basic underlying thing that this announcement shows is that ${company} now supports ${OS} on it's hosting platform. Yes, the sole reason they are doing it where ${OS}==Debian is because they think there's money to be made from it. I think you'll find that most of the hosting outfits are in it to make money - sorry if the idea that someone is allowed to make a profit upsets some sensitive types.
>

I have never had problems with people making money out of Free
Software. I paid bills for several years in that way. And also Richard
Stallman himself has done the same, just to make a notable example.

Only, I have never seen a party organised to celebrate, say,
DigitalOcean (replace it with whatever other provider you have in
mind) supporting Debian Jessie. The real support to GNU/Linux and
Debian has come from silent hackers. That's why I get suspicious when
trumpets start blowing "Linux" or "Debian", especially if the one who
blows them is a corporate which makes money prevalently with
closed-source software, and has done all was in its power to denigrate
Free and Open Source Software in the last 15 years.

[cut]

>
> Whether supporting Debian on Azure is just logical, or there's an ulterior motive, it's happened and we don't know which reason it is. What I am sure about though is that talking as though there's nothing MS, RH, and certain others do that isn't driven by some "bad intention" sends out a bad message that is off-putting to some and plays into the hands of others.
> I'm just suggesting that sometimes, reading this list is like being at an evangelical meeting of some hardcore cult - and that *IS* very off-putting to a large number of people.
>

Sorry, but I can't see any evangelisation taking place here. Just
civilised discussions, implying the expression of opinions which might
diverge, at some point. If this is off-putting, then you are probably
not used to discussions.

My opinion is that whatever comes from a corporate is to be considered
as potentially harmful, for the simple reason that the natural
(obvious and correct) aim of corporates is to make money for
themselves, not to help hackers make their own dreams happen. This is
not an evangelical message. It's just one opinion, that you can accept
or reject, but would hardly be able to change without substantial
evidence.

My2Cents

KatolaZ

--
[ Enzo Nicosia aka KatolaZ --- GLUG Catania -- Freaknet Medialab ]
[ me [at] katolaz.homeunix.net -- http://katolaz.homeunix.net -- ]
[ GNU/Linux User:#325780/ICQ UIN: #258332181/GPG key ID 0B5F062F ]
[ Fingerprint: 8E59 D6AA 445E FDB4 A153 3D5A 5F20 B3AE 0B5F 062F ]