On Sun, 1 Oct 2000, Randy Edwards wrote:
> Not being a Red Hatter, I was curious as to what folks thought about
> the Red Hat Network.
First, a disclaimer: This is my analysis of the information Red Hat provides
on their website. If they have mislead me, then this info will be misleading
as well. Even if they were completely truthful, Your Mileage almost certainly
*will* Vary. :-)
The Red Hat Network(TM) is basically a subscription update and notification
service. You sign up for it. You get emailed notifications about updated
packages, security alerts, and the like. Software is run on each machine
which automatically pulls updated packages from central server(s) when they
become available. They use SSL and PPKE extensively for security. They use
basic resource reservation so you don't have to fight the crowds on their
public servers (that's the theory, anyway).
There was some hand-waving about new management and administration benefits,
but nothing materialized when I looked closer. Maybe that is down the road.
If you are already familiar with Red Hat's products and features, this
appears to be an attempt to integrate and improve their "up2date" client and
priority.redhat.com update system, and offer said system as a full service,
rather then a feature of the Red Hat boxed sets.
From a business standpoint, this is Red Hat's first real move towards
fulfilling ESR's ideas about how to build a revenue model as an Open Source
company. Red Hat knows they can't continue to make money by giving away their
product forever. Here they offer to answer some of the common concerns with
Open Source software, for a fee.
As far as how much it actually costs, their website didn't make it
immediately obvious. There were implications that for single-user situations,
"Basic Service" would be free -- but they didn't define what "Basic Service"
was. (I'm thinking "Basic Service" might be ftp.redhat.com :-) ). It appears
they intend to generate some income by collecting demographics information and
using that to target marketing. <insert conspiracy theories or privacy rants
here, if you like that sort of thing>
> It sounds a little like Debian's update functionality, enhanced and mixed
> in with a subscription scheme and promises of bits of Microsoft's .Net
> initiative.
It is definitely trying to counter the allure of Debian's APT. I smell
elements of Microsoft's TechNet subscription service and Symantec's "Norton
Web Services" in it as well.
Microsoft .NET is really just complete marketing b*llsh*t so far. I have
seen precisely zero real indication that anything at all will be different
from the way it is now. "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
On Sun, 1 Oct 2000, Derek Martin wrote:
> Anyone know what it is? I've been using RH for years now and I don't
> think I've ever even heard of it...
It is a new offering, or at least a new name, so you wouldn't have. :)
--
Ben Scott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Net Technologies, Inc. <http://www.ntisys.com>
Voice: (800)905-3049 x18 Fax: (978)499-7839
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