Re: RH questions

[mike808@users.sourceforge.net]

> what is going to happen to us... 

Um, move to some other freeloader-friendly distribution?

> RH has gone to servicing and supplying the Enterprise only... 

Because that's whose giving them money. What were you expecting?

> Bottom line, RH is changing. Will be we able to D/L the Enterprise
> edition, etc...

Probably not at some point. Xandros and Lindows and Libranet are already
on that business model - no free download ISOs. You have to pay to get one.
And they bundle in non-GPL stuff (namely the installer and access to their 
online update repository usually), so you can't just mirror up your own ISO.

Notably, these distros are based on Debian, so you could just cave and use
straight up Debian. But their unique features really do add value for their
audiences - which are primarily Windows refugees. But that's not you, so
you will likely prefer moving straight to Debian.

Mandrake is another option, or SuSE. I see SuSE moving to consolidate their
enterprise business, just as RH is. So that leaves Mandrake.

And if you're after stability, then Debian is *definately* your best bet.

In short, I don't think it's that big a deal that RH is focusing on their
bottom line, and leaving the free-downloaders-with-no-ROI out in the cold.

The time of it being difficult to build a distribution are over, which
mitigates a lot of the value that RH *used* to offer. Such as when it was
RH or Slack or Linux-From-Scratch. Those were painful days, and RH made
that tremendously easier - to get, install, and use Linux. And for that
time, paying for it wasn't that bad a deal either. Now, it's a different
proposition when there are hundreds of distros, and some might even be
tailored to your specific need - Knoppix for the road warrior, SuSE for the
mainframe, Xandros/Lindows/Lycoris for the Windows refugee, etc. come to mind.
Apologies to all left off the list. See http://www.distrowatch.com/ for more.

And RH now wants $100 for their distro. For that price I can get Xandros, 
*AND* it comes with Crossover Office and Plugin. For less, I can get
Mandrake or SuSE or Lycoris or ...

Mike/


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