[olug] Good for Redhat

[Jeff Hinrichs]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "neal rauhauser" <neal at lists.rauhauser.net>
To: "Omaha Linux User Group" <olug at olug.org>
Sent: Monday, November 03, 2003 12:04 AM
Subject: [olug] Good for Redhat


>     Redhat is going to be requiring payment for all services rendered -
> you buy the OS, you buy support, etc. They've got name brand recognition
> like no one else, they've worked the system down to the point where they
> get recurring revenues and the PHBs see business continuity that can be
> made to depend on a company, rather than on the goodwill of a few *nix
> geniuses.
Problem is, they are pricing themselves out of a lot of places. granted
$60/yr per machine doesn't sound like much but when I don't re-up 20
machines because I'm running Suse or Deb, that's $1200 they are not getting.

I put RH in a lot of places and I made sure that RH got money each and every
time.  My problem is not about not wanting to pay, it's about not wanting to
pay that much.  I could see paying double the current subscription to RHN,
or $120/yr per low end server but not what they currently want. They only
have a limited time to correct, what I consider to be a mistake.  Once these
low-end machines have their distro's flipped it will be one tough sell to
get them back.

Only time will tell and I do not wish bad things on RH, even now.  But I am
more than a little skeptical about their new direction.

-Jeff Hinrichs