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As much as Novell's Linux business has been growing, Red Hat is doing even
better <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/25/redhat_fq12010_numbers/>.

Looks like the recession really is encouraging people to move away from
proprietary software towards free/open-source solutions.

On Jun 25, 10:36*pm, Lawrence D'Oliveiro <l...@geek-
central.gen.new_zealand> wrote:
> As much as Novell's Linux business has been growing, Red Hat is doing even
> better <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/25/redhat_fq12010_numbers/>.
>
> Looks like the recession really is encouraging people to move away from
> proprietary software towards free/open-source solutions.

There is little free/open source about RedHat...you pay quite heavily
for a Redhat OS.....what is interesting is that Vmware now support
Debian, Ubuntu and FreeBSD....there must be enough interest in these
to justify that support.

For myself, I think you are thinking at the wrong level....OSes are
not that important, what is important is the application you need or
are prepared to pay for, this is where I think and why OSS and in turn
OSS OSes are doing well, you dont get screwed over as badly or tied
in.....

So with an OSS solution there is usually little upfront cost and no
ongoing support if you dont want to pay for it and you are not locked
in and there is often little prior investmant to not want to throw
away....These days just about anybody commercial charges 20%+ (in
fact its heading to 25% as the norm) for "support".....and busts you
at every opportunity for more licences, extras and upgrades...hard
sell of poor value (ne: "added value") seems to be the name of the
game....reducing flexibility and customer choice hidden inside is
becoming the thing (as a customer) to watch out for....

regards

Thing

In message <552e47de-5e83-4bab-
ba7c->, thingy wrote:

> On Jun 25, 10:36 pm, Lawrence D'Oliveiro <l...@geek-
> central.gen.new_zealand> wrote:
>> As much as Novell's Linux business has been growing, Red Hat is doing
>> even better
>> <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/25/redhat_fq12010_numbers/>.
>>
>> Looks like the recession really is encouraging people to move away from
>> proprietary software towards free/open-source solutions.
>
> There is little free/open source about RedHat...

It's _all_ free/open source. You can get exactly the same software package
for free from outfits like CentOS.

> ... you pay quite heavily for a Redhat OS.....

You pay for their support. That's all you pay for.

> what is interesting is that Vmware now support
> Debian, Ubuntu and FreeBSD....there must be enough interest in these
> to justify that support.

So Red Hat doesn't own the market. So what? Plenty of room for all.

> For myself, I think you are thinking at the wrong level....OSes are
> not that important, what is important is the application you need or
> are prepared to pay for ...

All software is ultimately a commodity. That applies to apps as well as the
OS, drivers, whatever. The only thing worth paying for is the support,
because that's the only scarce good.