[clug] Google compared to latest Microsoft evilness

[Lana Brindley]

2009/7/9 Chris Smart <mail at christophersmart.com>

> 2009/7/9 Lana Brindley <lanabrindley at gmail.com>:
> > You will get sued by any company if you try to distribute something with
> > their branding and without their blessing. There is absolutely nothing
> > stopping you downloading the source and doing what you want with it,
> though.
>
> Yeah, but you said I can "download and install RHEL on a machine" and
> then call them for support. But I can't do that unless I first
> purchase a Red Hat Enterprise Linux support license, right?


Wrong. You can run an RH system on any system you want, for as long as you
want. You can then call them up and - for a price - get support.

I run RHEL5 on my personal home server (non-work related) without a support
contract, and am not breaking any laws. I have access to all features, and I
have not paid a single red (ha ha) cent for it. I maintain it myself, and if
I run into problems I do the same thing as I do for my other machines - I
google, I ask CLUG, I phone a friend. If I wanted RH tech support, I can
ring a certain 1800 number, give them my credit card number, and get
support.


>
> >
> > I see a big difference here. And I think you're mixing up the ideas of
> "will
> > run on" and "will be supported". Whether it's bad or not is a matter of
> > personal opinion.
>
> I get what you're saying. Red Hat doesn't stop the system from booting
> if you change the specs, but your support is dead. They aren't
> literally stopping what you can run Red Hat EL on, but they are
> because of their support system.
>

How?

I'm still completely failing to get your point.

Yes, I work for Red Hat. I don't work in sales, and I don't really care what
OS you run (or what support package you have). What I do know is that very
rarely will you call RH support and have someone make you run through a
complete hardware spec before they decide to help you. I do have a problem
with FUD being spread about Red Hat support. The RH support guys I've met
(and I've met a few) are all amazingly smart people, who are very committed
to open source. Most of them are also very active in the community, and big
contributors to Linux in their spare time, as well as their work hours. They
would probably also be extraordinarily upset that others in the community
perceive RH to be 'crippling' the product in the search for more funds. If
that were the case, RH would be haemorrhaging staff.

L

-- 
Cheers! Lana

The artist doesn't have time to listen to the critics. The ones who want to
be writers read the reviews, the ones who want to write don't have the time
to read reviews.
 - William Faulkner

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