[TriLUG] Red Hat + IBM, good or bad?

[Brian Henning via TriLUG]

I have a hard time seeing this be as loud a death knell as some seem to fear.  It may indeed be that community-supported Linux starts to lag, but I can't imagine it ever dying out.  Stable versions of FOSS are out there right now.  In the absolute worst case, IBM tries to claim a non-GPL copyright on some huge swath of code.  So what?  I don't think they can retroactively claim code that's already been released under the GPL (at least, not in some simple unilateral move).  IANAL, but it seems like even if that happened, there would be plenty of GPL code in the wild for the community to carry right on without much of a hiccup.  Maybe I'm just being naïve; then again, if CentOS does stop being a thing, I will be perfectly content to switch the one server I have that runs it over to Debian.

But, as I. J. Patterson said earlier, IBM has been a long-time contributor to Linux, and was an instrumental player in smacking down SCO.  Yes, that /could/ have been laying the groundwork for them to turn around and slurp it all back into themselves under exclusive terms, but at this stage I think it's too early to say the sky is falling.

-B

-----Original Message-----
From: TriLUG [mailto:trilug-bounces+bhenning=pineresearch.com at trilug.org] On Behalf Of John Vaughters via TriLUG
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2018 10:12 AM
To: Triangle Linux Users Group General Discussion <trilug at trilug.org>
Subject: Re: [TriLUG] Red Hat + IBM, good or bad?

 The purchase makes perfect sense. However, the fears for open source also are real. Corporations have been chipping away at open source for a decade or so. Who will pick up the baton if they successfully restrict licensing going forward? I don't know, but linux will for sure will continue to be a consortium of the big Software companies. I don't believe the changes will be huge however. The open source genie is out of the bottle so to speak. A few thoughts below.
- IBM made RedHat:  They wouldn't be the top OS on the market without the IBM's decision to virtually trade AIX for RedHat. They realized back around 2000 linux was the future. AIX will continue to be maintained until all those huge  specialty systems are purged which could be a few more decades.
- Scientific linux is a flow through from RedHat. If IBM wanted to restrict them, I am sure they could find a way. I doubt they will however. Just as RedHat eventually realized Centos was a benefit not a hindrance. Better to have people buy into your eco-system than send them to other options, eventually they will help the paid versions down the road, as administrators or production decision makers for paid versions.
- Centos ditto Scientific linux. I doubt we see a change.
- Canonical - That would be something if canonical got purchased. Let's see what happens.
- I'd check on those options, the premium on this purchase was outrageous. Can't believe I am out of RHT Blah!!!!
- Will all the down town folks get moved into the empty IBM RTP buildings within two years? I am guessing yes!
Interesting news to say the least.
John Vaughters    On Sunday, October 28, 2018, 6:49:44 PM EDT, Charles Fischer via TriLUG <trilug at trilug.org> wrote:  
 
 www.cnbc.com/2018/10/28/ibm-to-acquire-red-hat-in-deal-valued-at-34-billion.html

So did Red Hat just die or did IBM make a great move and return to relevance?  Must gut says IBM just saved themselves, but I am far from sure of that.

Thanks,
Charles Fischer
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