[9fans] Oil on the water

[Lucio de Re lucio@proxima.alt.za]

According to rob@plan9.bell-labs.com :
> We are considering doing a new distribution of Plan 9, the system we
> have been calling Brazil ...

Yippee!!

Hm, $350 is a big chunk of money, despite the dropping US dollar, but 
I think it can be justified.

What I don't understand is why Linus Torvald can coordinate hundreds of 
developers, and Bell-Labs can't afford one or two staff members to do 
likewise (do you need an aged wanna-be hippy in such a position?  I 
could even do it from South Africa, more cheaply than having to 
relocate to New Jersey, and Lucent do have a presence here :-)

I'd love to see Bell-Labs follow Netscape's example (to a degree they 
have already done so long before Netscape or Linus Torvald thought of 
it), and similarly knock a chunk off Microsoft's market.  Any way we 
can twist your arm?  Even if somehow 9fans takes over the support 
function (personally, if necessary, rather than merely on a mailing 
list?)

The other thing that comes to mind, is the availability of Inferno for 
Plan 9 Release 3, I hate needing an NT box when I already have three 
healthy Plan 9 machines to work with.

Well, let's say I'd put a lot of effort into making such a thing 
happen, and I think it is unfortunate (but Bell-Labs' privilege) that 
Lucent deems it important to generate revenue from an experimental 
system at the expense of some (admittedly speculative) long-term 
benefits.

And the other thought is that developers are not going to produce 
software for Plan 9 if commercial licencing is impractically 
expensive, whereas even Bell-Labs may gain from having something like 
Star Office (bad example, maybe) made available to the entirety of 
Lucent (or Oracle 8, or Netscape Communicator and Commercial Server).

There's more, but I'm sure it has all been considered.  plan9.advocacy, 
anyone?  :-)

++L