On Wednesday 05 November 2003 13:30, Herouth Maoz wrote:
> My guess is that small organizations that merely run their web server and
> CVS repository on Red Hat will simply switch to a different distro. Large
> organizations may go for this new Red Hat model, and Linux hobbyists will
> just disappear.
Calm down (Nadav expressed it better :-)
If you followed RedHat moves in the last two years, they were very consistent
and lead to the current situation:
- The free distribution we all used to install will not disapear -- its
future versions will simply be named Fedora instead of RedHat (their
original idea was to call it "RedHat Linux Project" but they later
united it with Fedora project).
- The new Fedora distribution will contain only free software (as the
original RedHat releases) and would have more freedom than before
to evolve (package selection etc.) because RedHat want it to be a
community project (if they succeed...)
- The support for Fedora will be by the community (just like the support
free RedHat got before). RedHat promised (when they announced the
"RedHat Linux Project") that they'll continue to provide the nessessary
services: CVS, bug-tracking, patch releases and iso-images (this
promise should be verified of course).
- RedHat declared that it intends to use the community version as a
development ground for their "Enterprise" editions. The version they
sell provide various "guarantees" to customers (support period,
help desk, RedHat network, etc.)
So basically they move to a model similar to OpenOffice.org/StarOffice:
* A community project (Free software) leads the way.
* The company provides bundled/supported versions for a fee.
The brand name is *different* than the community project.
* In return the company provides infrastructure and help
to the developers.
Sounds excelent model for me. It remains to be seen how it works out in
this specific case.
Cheers,
--
Oron Peled Voice/Fax: +972-4-8228492
[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.actcom.co.il/~oron
MCSE: Must Consult Someone Experienced
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