On Sun Oct 28 11:07:50 PM, Jos Vos wrote: > On Sun, Oct 28, 2018 at 03:54:06PM -0600, Zube wrote: > > > That old war wound started aching again. > > > > IBM:Redhat :: Oracle:Sun > > At least IBM is a far more attractive buyer than the evil Oracle, > well known for killing OSS companies as a strategy. Also Microsoft > has ben mentioned as possible buyer of Red Hat, that would be much > worse too. > > So, let's not be too pessimistic and give IBM a fair chance. IBM > certainly does not have a bad track record on open source and as > a technology-driven company, at least a much better track record > than most if not all other potential buyers. Of course. For the next several $timeframes, it will all be speculation, not worth a shovelful of earth. I'd be happy, nay, over-the-freakin'-moon, to be proven wrong. If the trajectory follows the Oracle (tm) pattern, the first change will be that things that you used to be able to download unencumbered will need an IBM username and password. Everyone who is nervous will try to reassure themselves and others that this isn't a fundamental change, that it's really just a minor inconvenience, we can still get what we need. I think our English chums call this "the thin end of the wedge." I'll stop now and wait with everyone else, silently, to see what happens. But I can't resist an old joke from long ago when there was a rumor about IBM buying Apple (I think this was in the late 80s or 90s): Q: What do you get when you cross IBM with Apple? A: IBM Cheers, Zube