G'day -
-----Original Message----- From: Russell Coker [mailto:russell@coker.com.au]
You can't just get a copy of RHEL binaries and run them on all your systems.
Sure I can. Download binaries, install on multiple systems, done. And it won't stop working.
If only I have dealt with issues that are limited to a single system... It's never that easy.
The basic Red Hat support doesn't cover such complex cases. If you want them to deal with that then you generally need some higher level of support which theoretically costs more. I say theoretically because you can get discounts when paying for RHEL licenses on multiple systems, so while you pay extra to have Red Hat people visit your office to fix things it could end up still being less than the list price for a sufficient number of RHEL licenses.
That's exactly the reason why people buy Red Hat support.
Is there a free version of RHN Satellite? That's all proprietary software so would need to be re-written from scratch.
http://www.spacewalkproject.org/ They open-source every product they use and support.
Also the choice of going to Oracle isn't really an option. Any organisation that would pay for RHEL support isn't going to switch to Oracle Linux to save some money so they are essentially stuck with RHEL.
Oracle will support and update existing RHEL installations. Switching to Oracle kernel is optional (comes with commercial support for Ksplice, which is a bonus). There's always a choice - that's the beauty of open source.
There are also companies that have created a lot of wealth publishing books that are out of copyright such as the Bible. If I found some examples of companies doing no business other than printing Bibles (and I'm sure that there are some of them) would that convince you that the Bible is "as capitalist as it gets
Yes - same applies to any product that is sold and bought on free market. Profiting from making goods and services such as Bibles, communist-themed t-shirts or free software support, is the essence of capitalism.
The Linux kernel is licensed under the GPL. RMS believes that proprietary software shouldn't exist. The fact that Linux can be used for business is simply an issue of freedom for users as some companies are users.
Yes, that's result of freedom of choice. Proprietary software exist for that same reason. As free software bests proprietary, more people will switch to it and pay for services instead. Case in point: Android. Regards Slav "This e-mail and any attachments to it (the "Communication") is, unless otherwise stated, confidential, may contain copyright material and is for the use only of the intended recipient. If you receive the Communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail, delete the Communication and the return e-mail, and do not read, copy, retransmit or otherwise deal with it. Any views expressed in the Communication are those of the individual sender only, unless expressly stated to be those of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited ABN 11 005 357 522, or any of its related entities including ANZ Bank New Zealand Limited (together "ANZ"). ANZ does not accept liability in connection with the integrity of or errors in the Communication, computer virus, data corruption, interference or delay arising from or in respect of the Communication."