2.6 Dedications and Release Commentary

[Jeff Waugh <jdub perkypants org>]

Hi all,

It has been suggested numerous times now (to both the Foundation Board and
the Release Team) that we dedicate the 2.6 release to Chema, Ettore and
Mark, so I just wanted to assure everyone that will will have a dedication
and In Memoriam section in the announcement and release notes.

 . . .

Additionally, I recently auctioned off the naming rights to the 2.6 release
at linux.conf.au in Adelaide, Australia... Don't freak just yet. :-) In the
past, we haven't officially named the final .0 release as we do for our
development releases, but there is a story behind this one...

Every year at linux.conf.au, there is a charity auction held to sell a shirt
signed by all of the speakers. In recent times, however, other items of
interest have been offered up to encourage bidding, such as last year's sale
of the naming rights to "the next Debian release".

Now, Debian hasn't actually had a new release, so this year, when Linus put
up the naming rights of the next Linux release, and Anthony Towns (Debian's
release manager) could only offer up the naming rights to a few of his
packages... Well, I guess I had to make a point. :-) I mean, at least we
know when we're going to make a release!

So, Gernot Heiser of the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering at the
University of New South Wales will be providing a name for the 2.6 release,
though we do have veto rights. ;-) While Gernot's bid alone raised A$3,600
for ITShare South Australia - who use Free Software to provide computers and
internet access to the underprivileged - the final donation was far greater,
as mini-bounties and new auction items encouraged vicious bidding wars.

For more details:

  http://web.zdnet.com.au/builder/program/unix/story/0,2000034968,20282774,00.htm

Thanks,

- Jeff

-- 
GVADEC 2004: Kristiansand, Norway                    http://2004.guadec.org/
 
       The implementation of any sufficiently advanced technology is
                        indistinguishable from pr0n.