> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jesse Pollard [mailto:pollard@cats-chateau.net]
> Sent: Sunday, May 14, 2000 7:40 AM
> To: Linda Walsh; linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu
> Subject: Re: Value of Certifications
>
>
> On Sat, 13 May 2000, Linda Walsh wrote:
> >Some people expressed uncertainty about the value of 'paper' certifications
> >that provide no increase in the security of the product in the real world.
...
> >certified is worth an estimated $1 billion dollar contract to this
> >company.
> It remains to be seen if the card is any good.
--- Absolutely. As I said in my first sentence, above, -- the certification is irrespective of the functionality. I.e. a product can have the functionality and no cert or the product can meet an insufficiently stringent cert. In either case, the quality of the card may be orthogonal (depends on certification requirements) to the certification. The point here was that the certification itself, not the features, are worth 1 billion. If that was a cert of Linux Based product, for example, say of some particular Red Hat distribution on a VALinux Box with support provided by Linuxcare, and an optional office suite provided by Corel that would mean large amounts of revenues into those companies or those company's Linux operations.Now other companies may take Linux more seriously and put similar configurations into use in their own infrastructure. Other companies are going to want specific add-ons. The companies who got direct income would likely need more Linux people -> more demand for Linux expertise (Linux Certified Engineers? -- injection of money into LSB?). The point is that a given product (like the smart card company, or Linux companies) meeting a cert send capital into the sector. Even competing smart card vendors are likely to step up their efforts to also get certified -- just as more Linux systems vendors and distro companies would be stepping up efforts to get their respective products on the certified list -> again, more demand for all things Linux. More 'well known' Linux contributors find that demand for their project yields them equipment dumped on their doorstep to bring their product up to release (from beta) quality.
All of this stimulates the Linux 'economy'.
Obviously our goal should be two-fold. A) ensure Linux survival and profitability in the marketplace and B) ensure it is the best there is. Meeting the goals of "A" allow further work on the things we are (I am) interested in long term, which is "B". Doing "A" may not be important for any single one of us, but the fact that it is important enough to pay large some of money for means it is important to someone. Doing "A" *can* allow many of us to work on "B". Hopefully we can finagle many of the "1" goals to contain "2", and for those "2" that don't fall directly into "1"...well who needs nights and weekends anyway? ;-)
When I first got out of school, I was so much the perfectionist / idealist. Now I realize that pragmatism is also useful as it allows expression of my 'art' (yes, I feel for some of us computer science is an 'art' that allows us to express our creativity).
Ciao, -linda
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon May 15 2000 - 21:00:24 EST