Sadly, I tend to agree with Andrew. Credit where credit is due. If the
individuals were truely acting as individuals, and not as members of
SLUG, then I might understand the unwillingness to mention SLUG in the
article. But to solicit support through SLUG and then not mention it in
the resulting article might be considered rather rude.
Speaking as one of the folks here at NKS who contribute to SLUG daily
with no immediate commercial gain other than reputation and word of
mouth, I can assure you that we mention SLUG constantly to customers who
ask about Linux and merely want more information and local support.
Sure, we use OpenSource tools and build products that use GPLed
components, but *we contribute changes* back to the community and
attempt to help it thrive. Our products are sold under no false
pretenses - our customers know our products use Linux and OpenSource
technologies to run their business needs. Customers pay us for our
professional and timely support of their business, and generally not for
handholding through the process of learning Linux (although we do give
the occasional Linux class now and again).
Sure, we have closed-source development efforts as well - but
programming those "hard" things that aren't as popular or sexy to the
OpenSource community does deserve some financial reward. I can assure
you, however, that our engineers *do* value the benefits of OpenSource
and strive to contribute back whenever possible.
TampaBay is a very "small town". The tech community simply isn't that
large. We're not silicon valley here. Playing nice with others is
critically important if anyone wishes to make a living in this area.
My words are my own. I speak for myself.
- Ian C. Blenke <icblenke@nks.net> <ian@blenke.com>
http://ian.blenke.com
On Wed, 2002-09-04 at 11:30, awyatt@fewt.com wrote:
>
> " I have been accused of
>
promoting my own company through this project at the expense of SLUG."
>
>
You can say that again. You've also chosen to ignore email from those that have disagreed with you in the past, but what do we know. You didn't mention SLUG because you are afraid that those you are selling to will discover it, and you will lost $$. That's the bottom line.
>
>
"All I've got to say about that."
>
>
-Andrew
>
>
>
You Wrote:
>
>
DATE: Wed, 4 Sep 2002 10:29:15
>
FROM: "David Meyer" david@crbtechnologies.com
>
TO: slug@nks.net
>
SUBJECT: [SLUG] School Project - Final Update
>
>
Good Morning SLUG Members,
>
>
It's been about a month since the last update on the school project, and I
>
wanted to give everyone a final update as to where this has gone, and to
>
clear up some apparent misunderstandings.
>
>
First of all, I want to thank Adrian deLisser, Bill Preece, Norb Cartagena,
>
Ramiro Souto, Richard Sanchez and William Coulter for their hours of labor,
>
advice and in one case a traffic ticket, which resulted in a total success.
>
I'd also like to thank Paul Foster who allowed me to present this project to
>
SLUG some months ago.
>
>
There will be several articles coming out within the next two to three
>
months in various local and national publications relating to this project.
>
In the beginning it was going to be covered by Newsforge.com, but this has
>
gotten more positive press than I could have ever imagined. As those
>
articles come out, I will be posting those on our company website at
>
http://www.crbtechnologies.com. SLUG and the members that helped out will
>
be praised highly in those articles.
>
>
I will tell you now that there is a blurb on our website that mentions the
>
school project, but does not mention SLUG. This has been a point of
>
contention with some, and I want to explain why. I have been accused of
>
promoting my own company through this project at the expense of SLUG. I
>
have been accused of being dishonest regarding this project and the
>
involvement of SLUG. Nothing could be further from the truth. SLUG is not
>
mentioned on the website because this project was to prove Linux could do
>
all we said it could do, and then sell our services to the next customer,
>
thus allowing me to PAY those involved, all of which come from the group. I
>
have been advised that it would be significantly more difficult to charge
>
for labor if I say on my website that the labor was donated by SLUG. The
>
idea here was to bring some income to those who participated. I made no
>
money from the labor of these folks. Yes, I made a small amount on the
>
hardware sale, but that was disclosed to everyone right up front. I told
>
everyone that my goal was to pay people for their labor in these projects in
>
the future, but we needed a project to showcase to make that a possibility.
>
Well, we've done that, and SLUG can be proud.
>
>
To date there have been no articles released because until this week, the
>
project was not ready for "public" disclosure, due in no small part to the
>
fact that the school wanted to wait until the computer lab was all squared
>
away (furnishing wise) before pictures started appearing in the newspaper.
>
Also, we have been fine-tuning things and making sure all our ducks were in
>
a row before the articles were released. Things are coming to a conclusion
>
now, and the project will be ready for the "public" shortly.
>
>
Again, I want to thank everyone who helped us out. SLUG will be highly
>
praised in the articles that will be released soon, as will Linux in
>
general. This project means that some children who have never seen a
>
computer before now have access to the technology they need to succeed. You
>
made it happen, and we (the school and I) appreciate it more than you can
>
ever know.
>
>
Sincerely,
>
>
Dave
>
>
--
>
David R. Meyer
>
President
>
CRB Technologies, Inc.
>
813-651-4933 (ph)
>
813-389-4529 (mobile)
>
david@crbtechnologies.com
>
Data Storage / Disaster Recovery / Data Security
>
http://www.crbtechnologies.com
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