Bonum Certa Men Certa

Open Letter to James Whitehurst, CEO of Red Hat

Dear Mr. Whitehurst,

A reader has suggested that we issue a humble statement which expresses our feelings and articulates some premature fears.

We would like to welcome your arrival and we look forward to seeing you run Red Hat. We have full confidence in your ability given an unquestionably-impressive career history.

Over the years, the company which you will serve has earned its respect and approval of the community -- despite its focus on profit -- simply because it honoured its roots and remembered where it came from.

”Red Hat's moral grounds keep Oracle shy of Linux success prevent an exodus to RHEL clones such as CentOS.“Consumers approach products that are advocated to them by professionals, whose stamp of approval is often associated with the general consensus held by a community. You have the advantage. Red Hat not only makes a de facto product for servers; it is also viewed as a symbol of open source spirit, with key figures such as Ingo Molnar and Alan Cox. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is the Debian GNU/Linux of those who rely on brand names and dedicated support. Red Hat's moral grounds keep Oracle shy of Linux success and prevent an exodus to RHEL clones such as CentOS.

Companies that turned against their suppliers have suffered from significant backlash. Linspire, for example, lost the community's respect when it signed a deal with Microsoft and then propagated Microsoft's threats onto competing Linux vendors. As a result, according to one industry expert who has watched Linspire and has helped them since their inception, the company's days are numbered.

Watch Novell's financial issues, public image issue, and its ill habit of manipulating financial figures to artificially create optimism. Some influential journalists have characterised Novell's deal with Microsoft as an "anti-Red Hat deal". Antagonism does not pay off, and it shows. We strongly urge you never to go down the same path.

When partnering with Microsoft, there is only one party that gains in the long term. Cisco's CEO, as well as many others, will gladly tell you this story. It is extremely hard to name companies that have benefited from a Microsoft pact, especially at Microsoft's expense. Remember that Microsoft perceives you, Red Hat and GNU/Linux, as its #1 threat.

Novell and Linspire have already been betrayed by Microsoft, just months after a seemingly-amicable agreement. We advise that you study these complications and convince yourself that, if anything, Red Hat gains here from the misery of others, so it mustn't join this club of misery.

”Red Hat needs its positive image in order to succeed and to truly satisfy people's needs.“Red Hat will continue to prosper and grow as long as it maintains the trust which it has earned from those who develop or promote GNU/Linux and free open source software. Red Hat needs its positive image in order to succeed and to truly satisfy people's needs. Red Hat needs only to ensure that it does not get fooled. If in doubt, it must listen to its developers (in-house and outside as well) rather than rely on the gut feeling of managers. Instincts are a risk. Fear and greed are among the greatest enemies.

Microsoft is likely to approach you personally, taking advantage of the fact that it has not confronted you about this issue before. We wish to make a simple and polite request that you issue a statement similar to the one from François Bancilhon, CEO of Mandriva. We wish to know that you are committed to open standards, openness of code, the interest of those who contribute code to your company and never the interest of a predatory rival that wants you prisoned by a software patent deal -- a deal that is not even valid in the vast majority of the world's nations, where software patents are not legal.

We have considerable faith in you and we hope you have faith in our assessment.

With wishes of happy holidays,

Yours Truly,

A group of free software advocates

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Links 16/08/2025: "Hey Hi (AI) Data Centers Are Driving Up Electricity Bills for Everyone" and the Case Against Booking.com
Links for the day
X.Org is Still Not Dead
Oracle still developing it
Microsoft is getting ready to cause many employees to resign
Having already laid off many workers earlier this month, it now tries another approach
"Maybe the Problem is You"
they probably felt like they had no choice because they really needed this Microsoft money
GNU OS, Powered by Hurd
Choice is good, as long as choices exist that respect the users' freedom
 
Slopwatch: WebProNews and Google News Promoting Fake Articles About "Linux"
Google News is being flooded by these slopfarms, so when Linux news is being sought online (via Google News) many people will read bots that spew out FUD
Original European Patent Convention (EPC, 1973), Routinely Violated by the European Patent Office, Now in Geminispace
hundreds of thousands of European Patents must be immediately revoked
Gemini Links 16/08/2025: Politics and Alhena 5.2.8
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/08/2025: Leasehold, Slop Bubble, and Xobaqu
Links for the day
Links 15/08/2025: Flight Attendant Strike, Floods, and Tropical Storms
Links for the day
Links 15/08/2025: German Government Falls Short on Free Software, Russians Breach EU Systems
Links for the day
Microsoft is Still Losing Cyprus
The market share goes down, so share prices go up
Microsoft Accenture is in Trouble
For one thing, its debt doubled in a matter of months
News Will Slow Down and Slop Will Contribute to the Slowdown
In recent years every time there was some holiday or major break the number people who "came back" shrank
Upgrading IRC Network of Techrights
a new version of the daemon we've used since 2021 was released very recently
"Register Debate Series" About Microsoft in the UK is Controlled by Microsoft (US)
The Register is run by Microsoft "Analysts", so the debate is doomed from the get-go
IBM is a Terrible Model for Red Hat
"Most likely caused by laying off too many people"
Microsoft Problems in Palestinian Territory and Israel
Microsoft stock (share price) goes up when market share goes down
Slave is Not a Bad Word, We Need to Use It Sometimes
Who does such exclusion of words benefit? What sort of expression will be deemed impermissible and subjected to CoC enforcement?
National Day of Action
"This Friday, August 15th, there is an organized, petition-based, protest of Wells Fargo in major cities across the US," Richard Stallman wrote
Our Gemini Editions Now Contain 100,000+ GemText Pages
Our Gemini Editions aren't small, even if Gemini Protocol is still the 'underdog'
The Relations Between the United States and Europe Deteriorate, Should Europe Continue to Rely on American Tech Giants?
The shallow notion that made-in-USA software is fairly safe for Europe to rely to is coming to a standstill
Techrights and Tux Machines Running as Usual During Vacations
No interruptions, maybe temporarily slowdowns
Gemini Links 15/08/2025: ADHD and "Random Weird Things"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 14, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, August 14, 2025
"Article 52. PATENTABLE INVENTIONS" in the European Patent Convention
Some time tomorrow we'll have a complete local copy of the EPC
Serial Slopper (SS) Still at It, Still Misusing Plagiarism Tools and Cheatware for Images and Text About "Linux"
All the slopfarms are a very big problem
Reddit Deletes Stuff, But Not for Being False or Misleading
Yet another one of those articles that speak of a man in his 50s as if he's terminally ill
Times of India and India.com Are Clickbait and LLM Slop
Google continues to reward bad actors
The More "Market Share" Microsoft Loses, The Higher the Shares Go
People joke about the same sort of thing in relation to IBM
To OIN, Software Patents Are Not a Problem
Had software patents ceased to exist, OIN too would cease to exist and its staff would be unemployed.
Microsoft's Bankruptcy in Russia is Only the Beginning
Due to politics it mostly makes sense that Windows is being phased out, also in part due to policy changes
Microsoft-Funded Publishers Lied to Us About Vista 10 and Now Advocate Us Owning Nothing
They want you to own nothing, but they also want you to buy a PC on which to become Microsoft's slave and they make it harder if not practically impossible to remove Windows
Articles Promoting and Celebrating Wayland Are LLM Slop
New example (100% slop)
European Patent Office (EPO) Reformation Project
It's a stain on the EU's reputation
The Register MS, Dominated by American Editors, Says UK Should be Run (Digitally) by Microsoft US
The Register MS is sponsored by American money, run by Americans, and its chief editor is a Microsofter from the US
Slopwatch: Google News and Other Slopfarms
Google News is rewarding sites that misuse LLMs and cheat the Web
Gemini Links 14/08/2025: Drought, Climate Experiments, and LLM Slop Considered Detrimental
Links for the day
Links 14/08/2025: Second-hand ThinkPad and Enhanced Surveillance on Chipsets from the United States
Links for the day
Moral Standards From the Masters of Linux
They get hung up on minor language issue and promote this crazy theory that racism will go away if only everyone spoke a little differently (no matter where he or she came from)
Links 14/08/2025: Data Brokers Hiding Opt-Out Pages From Google, "Fight Chat Control"
Links for the day
FSF Infrastructure Under Constant Attack
The disconnect (literally) has had an effect on credibility
Feels Like The Register MS is Trying to Diversify a Bit
If The Register MS goes back to being The Register US (or UK), that will be a nice improvement
Gemini Links 14/08/2025: Reading Journal and LLM Fatigue Revisited
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 13, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 13, 2025