[clug] Google compared to latest Microsoft evilness

[Chris Smart]

2009/7/9 Lana Brindley <lanabrindley at gmail.com>:
>
> Sorry, Chris, but you've got that a bit mixed up.

Thanks for the heads up :-)

>
> Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a free operating system - there's no restriction
> on what hardware you can run it on.
>
> That said, you only get the support you pay for.
>
> So, I can download and install RHEL on a machine with 16 CPUs and 64GB of
> RAM, and use it to my heart's content.

Cool, where can I download it? Because if I download the source and
compile it myself it's no longer RHEL and I'll get sued if I try to
call it that.

> When I call up the RH Support number,
> they will provide support for up to n CPUs and nGB of RAM, depending on the
> support level I have.

Right, so Red Hat limits what hardware you can run your software on,
just like Microsoft.

I know they will argue, it's about support, etc. But how does the
amount of RAM make any difference? Red Hat, IMO, is restricting what
users can do in order to make extra cash.

I'm not saying that's bad, but I don't think it's much different to
Microsoft's offerings except that there you pay a license fee for the
software and with Red Hat you pay a "support. fee".

-c