Hi Chris,
I think that the size of the market would be relative
to the size of Linux users out there that have no need
for the extra fluff of red hate. As for the version of
Slackware Alpha, I think that there is indeed a good
sized market for it. Especially, for companies like
Aspen Systems, who I know personally have been waiting
for slackware to be ported to the alpha, so they can
sell it with their alpha servers/clusters. They get
asked all of the time about if slackware is available
for their equipment. I'd imagine it's the same for all
of the other vendors of alpha systems that will have
linux installed on them. As for generating revenue,
through slackware for the alpha, I think that selling
it to the vendors would be the most profitable and
give slackware on the alpha a boost in the consumer
mindset.
Personally, I believe that Slackware on all of the
linux platforms has a lot of potential, especially in
the server market. I think that if Slackware ends up
on it's own, it would be a good time to start a purely
Slackware based company that focuses on the
development and marketting of Slackware. In time, it
could get to the point where custom systems are built
and pre-loaded with slackware and shipped out, a
complete package with support. That is where the real
profit is made, in supplying a complete package with
support. I think that if Slackware went down that path
and continued forth with the KISS principles, it would
become an excellent competitor to the other Linux
companies. I of course am all for helping out with
such a plan, I fully support the slackware efforts,
because I strongly believe it's a good product and has
a lot of potential.
As for selling it off a website, and supplying
official cd sets of Slackware Alpha, I think it would
work and be profitable. I think the same thing for the
Sparc port, since Red Hate dropped it's support of the
Sparc platform. Have you guys talked to Compaq, about
them becoming a channel supplier of Slackware on the
Alpha? I'm pretty sure they'd like to do that, since
they have issues with Red hate on the alpha;)
So there's my 2 cents on the subject;)
-Octave
--- Chris Lumens <chris@slackware.com> wrote:
> Anyone care to speculate on the size of a market for
> Slackware Alpha? Is
> there enough interest in it to support replicating
> official CD sets and
> selling them off a website? How about just
> duplicating discs in a burner,
> stuffing them in a sleeve, and mailing them in
> exchange for a small fee?
>
> --
> Chris Lumens - chris@slackware.com - KG6CIH
>
@n=(-42,-85,-83,-19,65,2,-10,-10,-15,-3,2,-10,73,-4,8,-4,2,79,8,17,15,7,14,2);
> print map{chr(-$n[$i++]+ord)} sort(split(//,'place
> random string here')),"\n";
>
=====
******************************************************
* Octave J. Orgeron * Specializing in : *
* Unix Systems Administrator * Solaris/Tru64/Linux *
* Sun Microsystems, Inc. * Certified Solaris *
* octave@sun.com * Systems Administrator *
******************************************************
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