So, my birthday is coming up it seems. Getting a little
older in your 20s doesn't seem to make much impact. I
suppose given time, they mean more or less. I am expecting
to find a new DVD player in my bag of gifts, as well as
some other goodies.
VA Linux. Hmm. Well, I think reality has returned and it is
that you can't make large sums of money off a community
that prides itself on full sharing. At least they had a
product (VA Servers), and while I'm sure they wouldn't be
getting rid of it if it was bringing in tons of cash, the
fact is I doubt OnSite is going to pay too many salaries.
There are ways to tie yourself into the network and make
money, (hey, AOL sure knows how currently) but I don't
think they will do it. I honestly have no idea what failing
will mean for the sites I visit. Not a big fan of any of
their newer sites, but thinkgeek and slashdot.org and
kuro5hin (as a sponsor) will certainly be changed by VA
going.
I saw Rusty say that it was Compaq giving them a new
server, not VA Linux. Now this makes a lot more sense. They
don't have any to give (or they need to sell those cheap
fast?).
I'm an information junkie. I need it. I love it. The
trouble is, you can only get so much for free and then you
need to pay for the development and ideas you use to get
your information. The economy has always had a dichotomy of
free and not free. Maybe the Web was too off on the free
side and with balance all will work out. The truth is,
there has always been a barrier to information, if it is a
price for an education or the price for a newspaper.
Limited amounts of information are free, and the government
helps support the education of the masses through
libraries.