“Back in June, the Linux Foundation started their individual membership program and they’re now expanding it with new hardware discounts. Starting this week, those who pay the $99 for an individual Linux Foundation membership will also get up to 40 percent off of Lenovo devices and employee purchase pricing from Dell and HP… When the Linux Foundation started the $99 yearly fee provided users with their very own Linux.com email address. Now users can lock-in their email address for $150, for what the foundation calls a ‘permanent’ address.”
Sorry but to me this sounds like a money grab.
At least I don’t feel like giving any more money to Fujitsu, HP, Hitachi, IBM, Intel, Novell, Oracle, AMD or Nokia (all members of that foundation) so that I can purchase the products a little cheaper from Fujitsu, HP, Hitachi, IBM, Intel, Novell, Oracle, AMD or Nokia.
Given that this is the Linux foundation, I’d hope that they would do something more constructive like for example sponsor (more) development. And then there is the Zemlin guy who is quite comparable to Ballmer.
Use the name and brand of Linux to make some money — we’ll see more of this in the future, I am afraid. A good example of the commercialization of the FOSS. It is only a shame that for individuals the opportunities to make a living out of this are not so good.
Edited 2009-10-15 09:09 UTC
What’s wrong with the commercialization of the FOSS?
Not so long ago the issue seemed to be that FOSS had no commercial value.
If the discounts are real,this sounds great and allows the Linux community to show its real size and purchasing power.