Dear All,
If someone asks a question such as "When is Centos 5.4 coming out" bare in mind that it may be because they genuinely want to know when it's coming out, and feel that somehow, they have not been privy to that information. To me, I see CentOS as a polished professional product given what it is, a repackaging of RHEL, and to that end I have the expectation of a fully fledged professional product, which includes static release dates. (I know it's not always possible, so please, no flames)
I say this with love, and all the maturity that goes with it, "I can't WAIT for CentOS 5.4!!!" but at least I have the luxury of understanding the process which prevents 5.4 from coming out on a particular day. The owners of 600 or so servers out there which I look after, like to believe they are techie people, because they can use Google, and they can read a few articles that say Centos 5.4 on the way. I get very regular emails asking why there server is still on centos 5.2, and I have to explain, if it's not broke, I'm not fixing it!
On TV, when you watch a commercial that tells you of the latest blockbuster movie - there is a date attached. The next butt kicking FPS for Xbox 360... has a release date. So many products that have a "limited" life span (iPods, games consoles, mobile phones, books, songs) are planned with a "static" release date, and if that date is missed, bad press is almost a guarantee!
The point I'm making, is that people have become used to knowing when things will happen. (I believe this is illustrated in the number of people fascinated with Flash Forward! Google is your friend). So, give them a break - and the idiots that insult other people who obviously do not understand how things work need to instead take the time, and understand that the internet is no longer the domain/hangout of the technically savvy. Even Linux is no longer the realm of only the technical geniuses, (although there are a lot of us!)
When someone asked "When will *CentOS 5.4 come out??* The answer is, "When it is good and ready", and when they ask "Why/What does that mean?", ask them to Google "open source distribution release cycle". That should keep them busy for long enough for me/you to actually get some work done J
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Kind Regards,
Mr Gabriel