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From: joe briggs <jbriggs@briggsmedia.com>
Organization: BMS
To: Stewart Smith <stewart@linux.org.au>, Hans Reiser <reiser@namesys.com>
Subject: Re: [OT] Re: Troll Tech [was Re: Sco vs. IBM] (sorry)
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2003 08:13:20 -0400
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Hans - 
Here's a thought to chew on.  I _value_ your software and use it extensively 
(along with other linux software).  Out of necessity I painfully roll my own 
Debian distro/kernel and flinch _every_ time I use apt to update my boxes 
(wondering if some damn PAM module is going to hose me).  Anyway, the point 
is, I build video servers that I sell for a profit - it is how I make my 
living.  I am also aware that in reality I am making a living off of the 
backs of you (ala reiserfs) and others like you.  The reason that I use linux 
is not because its free, but because it takes much less time to develop and 
maintain my video applications under linux than windows,  because I can 
remotely service and maintain the boxes that I sell, and because linux has 
proven to be more reliable than the windows os that I used to base my product 
on.  You see, the price is not the issue, its features, performance, and 
reliability are.  So, consider this:  YOU roll a DEB-REISER distribution 
targeted toward system builders such as me, that more smoothly incorporates 
reisefs than does the woody cd's (and a lot less generic), and then support 
the reiser-related issues, and I will happily pay you $100  per machine. It 
is well worth it to me to keep you in business (not that my volume alone 
would do it, but I am sure that there are a lot of others like me).  Don't 
worry about putting in a licensing agent - honesty really works here.  I used 
to base my product on RedHat and I purchased a copy of the OS for every box I 
sold - not that a customer would ever look under the hood or even read the 
docs, but it was my way of supporting the suppliers.  I don't use RedHat now 
because I can't keep up with their release-to-release changes, and I need a 
distro more turned toward enterprise servers.  The point is, I am not alone.

Just a thought.

Joe

On Tuesday 24 June 2003 06:47 am, Stewart Smith wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 24, 2003 at 10:03:13AM +0400, Hans Reiser wrote:
> > Umh, I would not mind something coming along to help me make it past
> > October when my cash runs out.  Being able to afford a house is too much
> > to ask but making payroll would be nice....  Government money has done a
> > lot to keep me from going bankrupt.
>
> May I suggest whacking an icon up with "Donate to ReiserFS" up there?
>
> Samba and GNOME are two projects which do this and at least get a bit
> of funding for it. Check out the samba one, tridge says it does okay
> with the updating list of who's donated money - makes it into a bit
> of a fun game for donators :)
>
> You've probably already got the credit card processing infrastructure
> around, so it could be minimal effort - with only possible gain.
>
> I'm sure happy reiser users would be willing to chuck a couple of
> bucks your way to ensure further development.
>
> ----
> Stewart Smith
> Vice President, Linux Australia
> http://www.linux.org.au (personal: http://www.flamingspork.com)
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-- 
Joe Briggs
Briggs Media Systems
105 Burnsen Ave.
Manchester NH 01304 USA
TEL 603-232-3115 FAX 603-625-5809 MOBILE 603-493-2386
www.briggsmedia.com
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