From: rburns@key.COM (Randy Burns)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
Subject: Re: Stabilizing Linux
Date: 17 Aug 92 18:54:34 GMT
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Advanced Systems, Fremont CA

In article <1992Aug16.014647.19241@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu>, ericy@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Eric Youngdale) writes:
> In article <Bt1u3u.3zv@world.std.com> dsb@world.std.com (David Boyce) writes:
> >To summarize: issuing releases is an incredible drag. Especially
> >the ones after the first.  
I would agree.

> 
> 	I think you may misunderstand the market.  The "paying customers"
> mainly want a source for linux that does not depend upon network access or a
> modem.  
Well, I think it is a bit more subtle than this. A release independent of
network/modem access is a nice first step. Now, for many folks though, this
is really just a first step. Until I got Linux, it wasn't really practical
for me to go ahead and purchase a fast modem and set it up for uucp. 

I'd expect to see some sigificant contributions to Linux coming from folks
who initially setup Linux using CD/ROM and/or diskettes and then

I may be putting my foot in my mouth on this one, but it would be nice
if once CD-ROMs came out, BBS's and major linux sites would have source
versions available as diff files so folks could periodically look
for the changes in the areas they are most interested in.

> My sense is that the CDROM manufacturers (at least the ones that I have
> been in contact with) are not interested in a lot of release engineering. 
I expect this will change as the volume in Linux disks/CD-ROMS increases.
Right now, there isn't much real potential volume in Linux disks/CD-ROMS 
compared to commercial products. I would expect this to change significantly
over the next 6-12 months.

> I
> gather that they will take a snapshot of the tsx archives, and combine this
> with a snapshot of a working linux system, put that on a disc and call that
> Linux. 
IMHO, someone who Linus knows well in the US should look into making
Linux a registered trade mark, to prevent someone else from doing so.
 
> 	It also comes down to pricing.  
And volume. Last Time I checked, you could buy CD ROMS for 
$2/CD in quantities of 1000. The way I woul dlike to see these things 
packaged is within a nicely printed manual along with a boot & root disk
(i.e. most CD ROMS last time I checked wouldn't  support booting without
special proms, but with the stuff Brian Gallew is doing, it should be
possible with a little hacking to get the CD-ROM mounted using Linux
in a minimal configuration. This would mean that in quantities of 
1000, someone could get a manual printed, and a substantial OS distributed 
and in the bookstores for probably under $US 25.00 retail price- and it would
be something that a typical user could take home and actually _use_ without
resorting to DOS. I'd expect we are about 6-12 months away from this sort
of thing.
 
> 	Theoretically, someone may do the release engineering, and then
> try and charge 500$ for the disc.  They would certainly be allowed to under
> the GPL, but they would have to compete with the 30$ disk. 
Well, also keep in mind that the availability of the bare CD-ROM does help
the whole release engineering process along quite a bit.