[CentOS] Open Letter to Lance Davis (FUD)

Fri Jul 31 02:01:21 UTC 2009
Michael R. Dilworth <michael at dilworth.net>

This is becoming FUD.

Obviously the CentOS Distro is not going to go away.

There seems to be some issues between the
Founders/Volunteers. However, if you read the
messages and the responses, it is very apparent
CentOS will continue.  At a new domain or the
original.

Based on the simple fact that we are at the eve of
Blackhat/Vegas, and a rather annoying named exploit
was released. And then, "this is important",
patched by the Team within a day!

What are you worrying about?

michael...

P.S. IOU, many Beers to all the maintainers and testers.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: centos-bounces at centos.org [mailto:centos-bounces at centos.org]On
> Behalf Of Akemi Yagi
> Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2009 6:28 PM
> To: CentOS mailing list
> Subject: Re: [CentOS] Open Letter to Lance Davis
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 5:36 PM, Jim Perrin<jperrin at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 6:47 PM, Johnny Hughes<johnny at centos.org> wrote:
>
> >> Why ... we are under no obligation to tell people how how we spend
> >> monies.  There are costs that are incurred for any organization.  We are
> >> probably going to disclose how monies are spent in the future because we
> >> choose to.  If you run a private organization, must you tell me how you
> >> spend your money?  You get an OS and can chose to donate monies or not.
> >
> > We're not under any obligation to tell people how the money gets
> > spent, but doing so certainly goes a long way building good will. In
> > my opinion, a simple 'We got X monies in donations which were used to
> > purchase dedicated hosting, bandwidth, and various novelties for booth
> > and show kit' once in a while would do worlds of good for showing
> > people how we use the money they choose to give us.
> >
> > I don't have any legal obligation to help old ladies cross the street,
> > or rescue cats from trees. It's what you do because you're a good
> > person. Doing this in a community sense is what makes you a good
> > neighbor, and what helps build community reputation.
>
> I have to agree with Jim here.  It is not legal obligation or
> anything. IF I am running a project and ask the community for help and
> I receive donations (monetary or in the form of thousands of donated
> hours), I would feel obliged to return back to the community.  And in
> doing so, I would want to disclose everything.  Once again, this is
> not due to any legal requirements but because I would feel the project
> is no longer my private toy and I owe the community.
>
> >> We are hiding nothing ... why exactly does CentOS need to provide that
> >> information to you?
>
> > Thinking that this is entirely an internal manner is a bit
> > short-sighted. Keeping all the problems internal doesn't solve them.
> > Not to speak for Dag, but judging by his blog reaction to the news,
> > the finance issue and lack of openness is part of what drove his
> > departure. If we move to adopt a slightly more open approach and
> > include more community efforts, I believe that we'll see a great deal
> > of good from it.
> >
> > It's not that we OWE the community anything. It's that we should do it
> > because it's how we want to be treated, and how we SHOULD deal with
> > them while we participate in the project.
>
> I mostly agree with Jim.  As I wrote above, if this was my project, I
> would feel I *owe* the community.  But that is strictly my personal
> feelings.  I cannot imagine how I can ever pay back if those who
> donated their time ask for refund. :)
>
> Akemi