User Linux

James Drabb JDrabb at tampabay.rr.com
Wed Feb 4 04:26:21 UTC 2004


On Tue, 2004-02-03 at 16:07, Joe Klemmer wrote:
> On Mon, 2004-02-02 at 23:34, Naoki wrote:
> 
> > Just been reading this :
> > 
> > http://userlinux.com/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?White_Paper
> > 
> > What do you guys think?  Especially about the "RedHat's Proposal"
> > section?
> 
> 	I commented on this when it was first reported on NewsForge way back
> when.  My take is that UserLinux is a useless effort.  I have nothing
> against Bruce nor Debian, but his comment about Fedora "reinventing the
> wheel" is backwards.  It is UserLinux that is trying to reinvent RHEL
> from scratch.  The structure of the Fedora Project has allowed it to
> release a distribution that is almost the equal of what took the Debian
> Project years to achieve in less than a year.

He does have some good points.  Linux is starting to cost MORE then a MS
solution.  What Free version of Linux can I use that is supported by
vendors?  I don't need paid support.  Basically, I have to spend $1,000s
on RHEL or SuSE EL.  I do like FC and have been using it at home since
the beginning of Fedora.  However, IMO, it is not stable enough for a
production system since it is constantly being developed.  Also, I don't
know why RH gets their "Enterprise" versions certified and not Fedora. 
Doesn't RH have total control over FC?  IMO, the best and most fair
thing for RH to do would be to have a "base Red Hat Linux" that gets
certified and then have different versions based on that.  There would
be the certified and free/community supported Fedora.  Red Hat does not
offer any updates or services for this version.  Then there could be the
paid versions that have updates and different levels of support up to
Enterprise grade 24x7 support.  This seems more fair to me since Red Hat
is based on tons of software that they did not develop and RH now has a
lot of free Fedora volunteers doing work for them that they can roll
into their "Enterprise" line.

Most companies can get MS Windows rolled out cheaper then Red Hat/SuSE
Linux and Linux IS FREE!  It seems like RH and SuSE are turning Linux
into an OS that is no longer a cost effective alternative to MS and now
only a cost effective alternative to expensive Unix.

I know it sounds like I am coming down on Red Hat, though I do want to
state that I have used RH Linux for a long time now and find it the best
Linux distro to use.  I just am not happy how RH dumped the home user
and the small business user.  Even on the RH web site, they make Fedora
sound like a toy to tinker with compared to Red Hat "Enterprise" Linux.

http://www.redhat.com/solutions/migration/rhl/
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
"If you require a reliable, secure, high-performance platform designed
for today's business environment, then the next step is to choose the
Red Hat Enterprise Linux version for your specific workloads and usage."

The Fedora Project
"If your interest in Red Hat Linux is to interact with the Linux
community and contribute to the development of a general purpose
operating system from free software, then the Fedora Project is for
you."


Now What IT manager is going to ever choose to use Fedora.  What small
business is ever going to choose to use Fedora with statements like the
above.  To me it sounds like RHEL is secure and stable while Fedora is
not.

Also, RH no longer has a Linux available that is cost effective compared
to MS.  You can get MS Windows XP home for $99, while Red Hat
Professional Workstation is around $110.  MS Windows XP Pro is cheaper
then RHEL WS.  This pricing point is actually hurting Linux.  More
home-users, IT manager, etc are familiar with MS then with Linux.  If
they look at trying a switch to Linux and see that it now COSTS MORE,
most will not make the switch.

> 	But it doesn't matter anyway...  My comments on NF were generally
> mod'ed as flamebait and Bruce is going to do what he wants no matter
> what.

Sorry for my rantings : )

Jim Drabb
-- 
---------------------------------------------------------
The box said: "Requires Windows 98/2000/NT/XP or better."
So, I installed LINUX!
---------------------------------------------------------
James Drabb JR
Senior Programmer Analyst
Davenport, FL USA





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