On Tue, Oct 30, 2018 at 8:36 AM Josh Boyer <jwboyer(a)fedoraproject.org> wrote:
On Tue, Oct 30, 2018 at 7:31 AM Peter Robinson <pbrobinson(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Oct 30, 2018 at 6:35 AM Jhoanir Torres
> <jhoanir(a)fedoraproject.org> wrote:
> >
> > Dear Council,
> >
> > What is your opinion about IBM movement?
> >
> > How can this affect to Fedora Project?
> >
> > Finally, could you please, give a word for the global community.
>
> I'm on the council but I don't speak for it or for Red Hat.
>
> I honestly don't believe we'll know anything as to how it would affect
> Fedora or any of the other of the Red Hat projects until the
> acquisition closes.
>
> Personally I'm quite excited about the possibilities, IBM has a long
> history of positive involvement in Open Source some of which they
> previously documented here:
>
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/cloud/library/cl-open-architecture-upd...
I agree with Peter here. As a former IBM-er (and now soon to be
un-former?) I can attest to the fact that the people in the company
that deal with Open Source believe in it wholeheartedly. IBM has
consistently been an investor in Open Source projects and a good
partner to a number of companies and projects in the Open Source
ecosystem. Their acquisition of Red Hat is yet another indicator they
believe in the value of an open, transparent, and neutral option using
Open Source technology to solve problems.
Lest you think I'm a marketing guy for this acquisition, I'm not. I
believe it can be a good thing, but it has to be proven out. I have
no answers and as Peter says we won't see what happens until well
after the deal closes. It is an exciting time to be part of the Red
Hat and Fedora ecosystems, and I look forward to participating as that
materializes.
We're all in the same position, really: speaking only for ourselves
and hoping for the best. :)
But here's my take: IBM spent 34 billion dollars -- nearly a third of
their market cap, and vastly more than for any acquisition ever -- to
buy a company that has no proprietary IP at all.
That's pretty much the most decisive bet on open source ever.
So if they didn't buy Red Hat's IP, what did they buy? They bought our
people and our culture. If they do anything to break that culture,
then they'll basically watch 34 billion dollars spill out of the
bottom of the bag.
I think we'll be just fine.