[thelist] AOL wants to buy RH Linux??

.jeff jeff at members.evolt.org
Mon Jan 21 02:40:46 CST 2002


dave,

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> From: Denis, David
>
> I agree.  I'm also perplexed by other AOL purchases such
> as WinAmp, which they've basically done nothing with.
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i'm perplexed by that as well.  i think nothing has happened to it yet
because the folks at winamp have a difficult time letting the big giant
screw with them.

it's hard to believe it's been almost 2.5 years since aol acquired winamp.

http://www.winamp.com/news.jhtml?articleid=9127

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> Don't get me wrong, at the end of the day I think AOL's
> purchase of Redhat would be a bad idea.
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then we're basically in agreement.

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> Not because it would hurt the linux community in any way
> (the GPL would hopefully stand up) but that it just
> doesn't make sense.
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i think it makes plenty of sense.  aol is obviously looking to buy them a)
for their profit potential, b) for the possibility of leveraging themselves
onto the desktop of the most-oft purchased linux distribution, and c) for
the possibility of forcing the end-user to use their own exclusive os,
rather than windows.  of course, these are ordered by how bad they are from
"barely" to "totally scary".

i can't honestly say if the gpl would stand up or not.  i don't think there
have been any cases to draw upon for a precedent so it'd likely fall to
whoever had the biggest bank account.

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> > > And they'd love to purchase a major cable provider
> > > as well.
> >
> > oh yeah?  says who?
>
> I thought you were kidding at first but I guess not.
> OK, here ya go:
>
> http://www.thestranger.com/2001-08-16/city4.html
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<quote>
  Obviously, Microsoft's enemies are keeping a close
  eye on the deal. "The leverage and power they would
  acquire is troubling," says Ed Black, president of
  the Computer & Communications Industry Association,
  a lobby group for AOL and Sun Microsystems. "With
  their blatant disregard for monopoly concerns, I'm
  not surprised that Microsoft is interested," says
  Black.
</quote>

pot calling the kettle black?  sheesh.  of course ed is going to say that
about microsoft, but should really take a quick look at who he's supporting
because the same could be said for aol.

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> Personally I find both Microsoft and AOL terrifyingly
> large companies.
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absolutely.  enough said.

.jeff

http://evolt.org/
jeff at members.evolt.org
http://members.evolt.org/jeff/






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