Is Fedora *really* Free?

[Kam Leo]

On 10/14/06, Keith G. Robertson-Turner
<fedora-gmane.00003 at genesis-x.nildram.co.uk> wrote:
> Does anyone here remember when the front page of fedora.redhat.com
> used to read:
>
> "The Fedora Project is a Red-Hat-sponsored and community-supported
> open source project. It is also a proving ground for new technology
> that may eventually make its way into Red Hat products. It is not a
> supported product of Red Hat, Inc."
>
> Now the reason I ask, is that I've just finished reading this article
> at lwn.net (prompted by another thread):
>
> http://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/203694/dab52f06fe38ff16/
>
> The gist of the above article is that certain people at Fedora, (Red
> Hat?), seem to think that including SpyWare with a community distro is
> not only a good idea, but actually necessary to ensure the
> continuation of this FOSS distribution.
>
> It isn't so much the idea that the project leaders don't care about
> "alienating" its users, but more the implication that the degree of
> autonomy that the Fedora project has is little more than an illusion.
>
> The implication (from the article) is that unless the Fedora project
> can start providing metrics to Red Hat, then the project is in danger
> of losing funding, and hence be discontinued.
>
> Is *this* what a "Community Distro" is all about?
>
> As a previous package maintainer, I have put considerable effort into
> this distro, and to have it threatened in this way by a supposedly
> impartial "parent", leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
>
> I find it particularly ironic, that a distro which strives so
> obsessively to purge itself of anything even potentially encumbered,
> should be itself so heavily financially encumbered by a commercial
> entity.
>
> If Fedora is truly *Free*, then maybe it's about time that it proved
> it; by adopting a Debianesque "Software in the Public Interest"
> approach to financing, rather than be dictated to by what amounts to
> a corporate investor.
>
> So the question remains, and it's a serious one, from a serious and
> committed Fedora user and developer; is the Fedora Project really
> Free?
>
> --
> K.
> http://slated.org - Slated, Rated & Blogged
>
> .----
> | Gates' Law: Every 18 months, the speed of software halves.
> `----
>
> Fedora Core release 5 (Bordeaux) on sky, running kernel 2.6.16-1.2133_FC5
>   07:29:06 up 119 days,  7:45,  3 users,  load average: 3.62, 2.78, 2.49
>
> --
> K.

You are helping propagate FUD. Fedora Core Project is not a "no
strings attached", publicly funded Linux distribution entity. Red Hat
is its primary supporter (financial and developmental). This is/has
been the situation for a very long time.  There is no charge for the
downloaded distributions created by Fedora Core, so yes, monetarily it
is free.