Am Freitag, 16. Dezember 2005 22:11 schrieb Bill Campbell: > On Fri, Dec 16, 2005, Bernhard Reiter wrote:
> >Note that there is some competition between OpenPKG and the operating > > system vendors. This is a problem for customers. > >They want to have a tested Linux (the kernel) and core technologies (like > >libc, filesystem) with certification for a hardware. > >Now RedHat, Mandriva or Novell are charging for this _and_ the > > applications, like Postfix. > > > >So if I buy Redhat and then use OpenPKG, I am paying for something that I > > do not use, and would like to pay OpenPKG for. Just additionally paying > > for OpenPKG makes this far more expensive of course. > I have a differing view on this. We're building a product based > on SuSE Linux Enterprise 9 (SLES9), mostly because Novell > contracts to provide support for the system for an extended > period of time. The support we want is primary kernel level and > drivers so we're not fighting the contiual battle of changing > Linux distributions. > > Relying on the vendor's versions of critical components like > postfix makes one more reliant on the vendor, something we want > to avoid given the stability of commercial vendors in the *nix > world. If it's critical to our systems, we want to have control > of the packages. If you go OpenPKG, you depend on an additional vendor, now you have to look after Suse/Novell and OpenPKG. In addition a Free Software vendor (many GNU/Linux distributors) will give you the freedom to continue supporting their packages, so you have it fully under control as opposed to proprietary unix-vendors. > In summary, we go with a commercially supported release of Linux > for longer term support of the basic OS and drivers, and pay > somewhat of a premium for that support. We don't care what they > do for e-mail, secure shell, etc. because we want to have control > of these critical server components. The problem is the additional price, if Novell and RedHat had and option for base system (kernel + devices + filessystem) only without application, this is the price difference that OpenPKG could get more easily. Bernhard ______________________________________________________________________ The OpenPKG Project www.openpkg.org User Communication List openpkg-users@openpkg.org
