RHEL Desktop

[Chris Spencer]

On Mon, 2003-12-08 at 10:14, Preston Crawford wrote:
> That's why I went with Fedora instead of buying this. I'd love to
> continue to support OSS with my dollars, but not if I'm going to be told
> I can't run Samba or MySQL or Apache for development on my box. This
> kind of arbitrary breakdown in licensing is what Microsoft does and is
> part of why I prefer Linux instead and don't use MS any longer.

They aren't telling you that you can't run Samba, MySQL, or Apache for
production on that box.

They are just not rolling out the packages or offering the superior
service options.

You pick what you want to do.  It's a stable platform for you to work
from.  

<FLAME ON - somewhere around here>
Moreover it is far from arbitrary lines being drawn.  They are targeting
the distributions and support according to certain price points which
that type of distribution and support offering makes sense.

If you think it's not worth it that's fine plenty of others are doing it
a little bit different with a different price point.  

RedHat is a good company trying their best to do the right thing and
walk a tight rope.  They need to charge enough to continue their service
and to help open source as well as to make some return for their
shareholders...etc.  

They also have to contend with people taking cheap and unfair shots at
them.  

I support the entire OSS movement and respect any company that makes a
commitment to it even if I personally don't want to pay what they want
to charge.  

In the past I have been rough on companies that produce non-free
distributions when they are non-free (as in freedom) because of the
incorporation of 3rd party proprietary ad-ons.

I do so because these types of distributions keep potential users from
using the whole of their OS for the sake of some 3rd party ad-on.  

It is better to release a free (as in freedom) OS (with the allowance of
including brand identification non-free material) and providing any 3rd
party ad-ons as an additional purchase option.

This is a step that SuSe has taken.  I just hope other companies will
choose to divide these things out going into the future across all
distributions.

RedHat has gone above and beyond this call of duty by offering a free as
in freedom and beer OS to us and restraining all of their distributions
to only include free software (as in freedom) in their base.

</FLAME OFF>

So in summary...just give them a break, they are trying to be as
responsible and respectable as they can.

-Chris

"As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both
instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly
unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all must be most aware of
change in the air, however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of
the darkness." - Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas