regarding the "Open Letter to the Linux Community"

[Deb Richardson <deb@thepuffingroup.com>]

I read the following letter, posted this morning to Linux Today (url:
http://linuxtoday.com/stories/12225.html)

To be honest, I really don't understand what Joshua is trying to say
here.  If someone from the "core team" could please clarify the purpose
and meaning of this letter, I would very much appreciate it.  

--------------
Linux Today reader Joshua Drake writes:

To the Linux Community and the Members of the LDP:

My concerns are for the LDP as a whole and, as I feel that certain items
are not in the justice of the LDP, I can and will speak my mind.
Although I am not always successful, I try hard to present thoughtful
arguments to ideas and develop each idea that is presented.

Recently however, it seems as if some of us are going in basically the
same direction, while others are off in the distance somewhere. This is
not a slam, nor am I trying to cause a stir. I am trying merely to
present something for thought. I appreciate that people are trying to
grow the LDP. I appreciate the ideals that they are trying to set forth.
I do not however agree with the tactics or direction of said tactics.

I have heard several arguments about not enjoying possible commercialism
of the LDP. I agree with this, however I do not feel creating
conglomerate open source movements is any better than becoming a Class C
Corporation and starting to charge for everything we do.

I have said this before, and I will say it again. I do not want to
create a commercial LDP like Redhat. I want to organize it like Apache.

This is not to say we should become a non-profit, it is not even a
course of suggestion. Apache was what it is before it became a
non-profit, the most successful Open Source project in existence. Yes,
even more so than our beloved Linux.

Apache is a portal of driven individuals and corporations who want to
create the absolute best Web serving platform available. The continued
support from companies such as IBM and Sun have created an application
platform that few if any, can compete with.  The dedication and focus of
the Apache Group has grown a would be competitor and clone of NCSA to be
the most widely used production open-source product in the world.

This my vision for the LDP. No, we do not develop software. We develop
the capability for users of software to understand software.

All of us know far to well what it is like to create something or use
something that is sorely lacking support. All of us also know that the
first and foremost used support is documentation.

I am calling on every Linux user who has figured something out to
document it. I am asking that every person who enjoys the proliferation
of the Linux Documentation Projects' products to join ldp-discuss. If
you have a small document that covers a topic, bring it to our
attention. If you have an idea for a document or would just like to help
out, let us know. If you have already created a document, join
ldp-submit and present the document.
-------------

- deb

--
deb@thepuffingroup.com
deb@linuxchix.org
deb@oswg.org


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