[CentOS] Design changes are done in Fedora

James B. Byrne byrnejb at harte-lyne.ca
Sun Jan 11 02:42:49 UTC 2015


On Fri, January 9, 2015 17:36, John R Pierce wrote:
> On 1/9/2015 2:32 PM, Always Learning wrote:
>> Enterprise, in the RHEL context, suggests stability or have I
>> misunderstood the USA definition of "Enterprise" ?
>
>
> Enterprise to me implies large business

Enterprise literally means 'undertaking'. It has been used
euphemistically since the later 1980s as a code word for associations
having a legally recognised form that operate for some sensibly
describable outcome.  So one has large, medium and small enterprises,
not-for-profit enterprises, commercial enterprises, social enterprises
and so forth.

> Businesses that don't adapt to external changes become fossils
> and die off.

The greatest threat to the survival of any organism or organisation is
a change to its environment.  It is because of this that widespread
adoption of so much innovation is delayed using societal pressure.  
This is not done entirely out of narrow self-interest but from a
sensible appreciation of the limits to the speed at which people can
adapt to change.

As is noted elsewhere, change is inevitable.  But there are many kinds
of change.  For instance, there is the change wrought by sudden and
dramatic increases in productivity.  How many here are cognisant of
the fact that the O2 steel making process introduced in the 1950s
lowered the labour content of a Tonne of steel by three orders of
magnitude?  Without that single change much of what we invisibly
accept as part of the urban landscape today would not exist.  Without
that change it is likely that Bethlehem and Republic would still be in
business.  Without that change hundreds of thousands would still be
employed in the steel mills of North America.

Then there is fashion.

An enterprise has its hands full with just dealing with the former
type of change.  It can ill afford to waste resources on the later.

With respect to RHEL7 the question is: Which are we dealing with,
substance or fashion?  Or rather, which type predominates?

I have no argument against claiming the switch to xfs is substance,
not fashion.  But then again that change over, however beneficial, is
nearly invisible to most of us; subsumed as it is in the overarching
effort of setting up a new system from scratch.  Once a host is set up
its file-system certainly has little further discernible day-to-impact
upon anyone, much less end-users.

But Gnome3?  Systemd?  These seem highly intrusive changes that
directly affect, often negatively, the daily tasks of many people. 
Are these substance or fashion?  Do the changes they make
fundamentally improve RHEL or just do the same things a little
differently?  How much is it worth to an Enterprise to have a similar
desktop metaphor on the workstation as on a tablet?  How many desktop
workstations will be replaced by the smart-phone, the tablet? I do not
have an answer but I suspect, not much and not many.

What does systemd buy the enterprise that sysinit did not provide? 
Leaving aside upstart as a sterile diversion.

I am not certain of anything here either.  I have learned that my
initial resistance to change, any change, is just as emotionally
charged as that of the next person.  So, I tend to wait and see.  But,
I do ask questions.  If only to discover if I am alone in my concerns.
 I am but one person and I need the views of others, agreeable or
disagreeable to my prejudices as the case may be, so as to form an
informed opinion.

I am admittedly somewhat concerned about the overall direction of the
RHEL product.  I fundamentally disagree with their Frozen Chosen
approach to key software components.  And with the lock-step forced
upgrades that are the result.  I am not at all certain that
back-porting security fixes to obsolescent software is a profitable
activity when often for much the same effort, if not less, the most
recent software could be made to run on the older release without
adverse effects elsewhere.

However, I offer no answers and promote no particular course of
action, saving only reflection of what is happening now and the price
that is paid for it. I am simply seeking the alternative views of
others on these issues.

-- 
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James B. Byrne                mailto:ByrneJB at Harte-Lyne.ca
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