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Re: Red Hat backs away from eCos?


Hi,

Bruce Smith wrote:
Michael Kelly wrote:

HI,

For what it's worth, I say good riddance. Red Hat never knew what
to do with eCOs or even GNU for that matter. Now that the eCos
source is GPL'ed (with appropriate modifiers for embedded use), I
believe it will take off. I intend to show my support by working with some of the developers to create board/eCos bundles for development
use. I encourage all of the board vendors out there to do the same.

I agree. And by developers I assume you mean those laid off? I still see activity from familiar names though no longer with Red Hat email addresses :-) Who will maintain eCOs if Red Hat are not?

I have also with satisfaction noted that some people from the former Cygus/RedHat/eCos developer team is still talking to the list. I surely hope most of these developers will be able to keep on working with open-source eCos.


And as for end users, support eCos by working with the developers
and funding the projects.  Maybe now they can take on reasonable
size jobs since they do not have to meet the inflated levels of revenue
Red Hat expected of each customer.

There were rumours of an eCOs startup. Does anyone know what happened to that? Did their VC fall through, or are they still looking for VC?

I'm myself not sure whether VC-financing is the right thing for embedded open-source projects - I have seen more than one well-working company (maybe Cygnus is a good example?) that has lost much of its business potential when VC:s have come in trying to boost revenues to unhealty levels. And it usually don't seem to be any better if such a company eventually goes off for an IPO...

"Jim" (jyl087@netscape.net) suggested that chip manufacturers should form a coalition group sponsoring further eCos development. While I believe this is a beautiful idea, my experience with silicon manufacturers unfortunately makes me pessimistic to whether this would be realistic.

Instead, I'd suggest that we who are today part of the eCos user community join together, founding and sponsoring an eCos startup company who could safely bring a truly open-source eCos further!
If we move on fast, hopefully we could maybe even attract some of the original eCos developers to this eCos startup before they will have to switch over to other businesses
While I doubt such a company would be able to produce revenue levels interesting enough to a VC, I'm positive that it could safely provide a sound financial ground for a smaller number of developers continuing the eCos development in a truly open-source spirit. And with the help from contributions from a more dedicated "sponsorship community", I believe the speed of furter eCos development could even be improved.

I suggest anyone interested in helping sponsoring an eCos startup (indications from users about being willing to buy servicess from such a startup would probably be the most valuabe item!) tell this to this list, so that we can see it this could be a possible route to take.


Anyway, I think an eCos free from Red Hat is good for the embedded
world and I do not believe it will die off.

I agree. Red Hat were becoming the Microsoft of the Open Source world so this can only be a good thing.



regards
bruce



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