Re: JAVA and ADA JGNAT

[Pascal Martin <pascal.martin@iname.com.nospam>]

In article <87jrv3$n7r$1@nnrp1.deja.com>, Robert Dewar <robert_dewar@my-deja.com> wrote:
>> Well.. Transmeta is not in competition with RedHat:
> 
> Of course Transmeta is in competition with Redhat, sure they
> do not currently compete head on, but they are both aiming
> at the commercial Linux market. Right now, Redhat is not
> focussed on the same area (Transmeta's aim is to produce
> a mobile version of Linux, which is stripped down, and it

I stand by my opinion :-): the Transmeta sales material is full
of CPU chip description. They are competing head on with
Intel and AMD, not with RedHat. They provide Mobile-Linux
in order to sell chips: you cannot sell CPU chips without software.
I have seen no Transmeta sales brochures on business support,
nor any adds for Linux CDs.

Transmeta is aiming to sell its chips to PC and gizmo vendors.
RedHat is aiming to sell the OS to these and support to the
customers of these. The two are going to live happily together
for years to come (at least I hope so..)

For an authorized view on Transmeta "software business", here
is the Linus testimony: "Actually, Mobile Linux came about because 
we had customers that wanted to run Linux on those smaller
devices like handhelds, so it was on their demand really.It isn't
really a new version of Linux, mind you, [...]" (URL:
http://gnet.dhs.org/linus/)

> Redhat is not currently in the mobile Linux market, but
> that does not mean they are not both competitors.

Even when RedHat will be in the mobile market, that will be
to Transmeta advantage: they might sell more chips.

> Take Tivo as an example. Currently this consumer product
> uses a version of Linux developed specifically for Tivo,

They use, but they don't sell. If you buy a computer, you do
not become an IBM competitor, even if you bought a Sun..
If you use Linux, you do not become a RedHat competitor
automatically.

I guess Tivo is busy enough trying to convince us couch
potatoes that they can enhance our TV experience. They
don't have any time left for entering the Linux distribution
business, a crowded one if you want my opinion (I know,
Robert, you did not ask :-).

Is the same fear (customers becoming competitors) driving
ACT's strategy ?

> The only special power held by the copyright holder for GPL'ed
> software is the ability to subsequently release a version under
> some other license (e.g. a fully proprietary product). So this
> is not really an issue (I am not sure why you raised it).

You misunderstood: these are two separate points: 1) the copyright
is not RedHat, so they cannot even argue about it, 2) it happens
that when the developper leaves, the software often follows, which 
never happens in the proprietary world (because of the copyright).

> Well if you think that Microsoft is simply a software editor
> and does no internal development, then your viewpoint is even
> more remote from reality than I thought. I am not even sure

I did not say such a thing. I just meant that Microsoft does a lot 
of money as a software editor. I read somewhere, about 5 years 
ago, that a significant part of the Microsoft income was made 
of ouside software sales. 

Now you can call me fuzzy ! :-))

------------------------------------------------------------------
Pascal F. Martin.