:Slackware Commercial Distribution Left in Doubt as Developers Are Laid Off
Slackware Commercial Distribution Left in Doubt as Developers Are Laid Off Apr 17, 2001, 20 :05 UTC (81 Talkback[s]) (19387 reads) (Other stories by Michael Hall)
Commercial distribution for Slackware has been left in a precarious
position by the
recent acquisition of the software assets of its parent company
BSDi (now part of Wind River).
UserLocal reported yesterday
that several core Slackware developers had been laid off by the
company left behind by the acquisition: server manufacturer
iXsystems. Though the developers said they'll continue to work on
Slackware, they won't be drawing a pay check to do so.
According to Slackware project head Patrick Volkerding, who'd earlier said he hoped the acquisition would leave the distribution untouched, the
layoffs are the result of the terms of the acquisition and resulting
spinoff of iXsystems:
"BSDi (formerly Walnut Creek CDROM, our long-time publisher) was
bought by Wind River because they wanted the BSD assets for use in
embedded devices. They do not like Linux or the GPL one iota, so we
all essentially became "orphaned" when they showed no interest in
bringing us over."
Volkerding's assessment of Wind River's attitude is borne out by
statements made in the Wind River FAQ on the acquisition and a
recent report in LinuxGram that quoted Wind River Vice President
John Foeglin as saying companies "fear the GPL" because of its
requirements to share modifications to GPL-licensed source code.
"The hardware side of the company (iXsystems) did have some
interest in publishing Slackware," said Volkerding, " and for a week
or so we thought the whole team would regroup under their umbrella,
but it turned out that the deal prohibits them from selling software."
In the mean time, work continues on Slackware, which isn't tied to
commercial distribution, and Volkerding said he hopes to start a new
Slackware company, "but until [the project gets] this next release
out, the money is going to be tight. Slackware has always been
profitable though, and I sincerely hope we'll have the resources soon
to help support the rest of the team."
