Did RedHat Give up too easily?

[Greg]

Today Redhat announced the discontinuance of it's Redhat linux line of operating systems. They also conceeded that windows is best for consumers here (http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/linuxunix/0,39020390,39117575,00.htm) .

I personally think there is more to the story, not enough is being said. What do you think precipatated these actions?

[Anaconda]

Where did you see this. I found no such announcement at Redhat, or any other credible news source? This would be a HUGE announcement, to say the least, if it were true.

Unless you are referring to the namechange (which happened some time ago) they put on their product... the desktop edition is now known as Redhat Enterprise Linux WS. The old Redhat Linux name was dropped in order to gain more market share in the enterprse market. Redhat has simply decided not to go after the household desktop market, which isn't where the money is for them anyway.

Make no mistake... Redhat has not stepped away from Linux.

Also found the following announcement on Oct 23.

"Red Hat has also announced a new home office retail offshoot of the Enterprise 3 product family called Red Hat Linux Professional Workstation which retails for $99 and includes 30-day installation support and a one-year subscription to upgrades and patches."

[Greg]

This is the email they sent. They are going to have community supported Fedora in the future and The Enterprise Editions.


Thank you for being a Red Hat Network customer.

This e-mail provides you with important information about the upcoming
discontinuation of Red Hat Linux, and resources to assist you with your
migration to another Red Hat solution.

As previously communicated, Red Hat will discontinue maintenance and
errata support for Red Hat Linux 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 and 8.0 as of December
31, 2003. Red Hat will discontinue maintenance and errata support for
Red Hat Linux 9 as of April 30, 2004. Red Hat does not plan to release
another product in the Red Hat Linux line.

With the recent announcement of Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.3, you'll
find migrating to Enterprise Linux appealing. We understand
that transitioning to another Red Hat solution requires careful planning
and implementation. We have created a migration plan for Red Hat Network
customers to help make the transition as simple and seamless as
possible. Details:

[Anaconda]

Ok thanks, it's as I thought, they are just referring to the old product line. From your above post, I originally perceived it as you had seen an announcement stating that they were dropping Linux (which would be terribly odd, for a company built on Linux).

[Zero Tolerance]

Originally posted by Anaconda
Ok thanks, it's as I thought, they are just referring to the old product line. From your above post, I originally perceived it as you had seen an announcement stating that they were dropping Linux (which would be terribly odd, for a company built on Linux).

I agree!

[Greg]

They gave up on the desktop and concided to M$. Most are saying those complaining want a free OS. I would pay a reasonable price for linux and updates, but their $179.00 per year entry level is too rich for my blood.

Now that Fedora Core 1 is out most are saying refer to it or think of it as RH10.

The impact doesn't seem to be bad for those wanting a linux desktop for free, but RH's comments about windows were odd IMO.

[Anaconda]

I still haven't seen the Windows comments, but I did finally see the official announcement marking the end of the RH Linux product line.

Though I won't miss it much, as I always purchased the professional editions anyway, so the $100 workstation edition will still work for me.

There are also many other distributions available for desktops. What I'm really waiting to see is if Novell will kill the SuSE desktop edition, now that they own SuSE.

If anyone is looking for an easy to set-up and good desktop distribution of linux, I recommend Knoppix. You can even run it from a CD, to evaluate it if you want.

[Hammer]

Looks like Knoppix's future is unknown.


Closed because of "Software-Patents"



http://www.knoppix.org/

[Anaconda]

Looks like RedHat hasn't given up the fight yet:

http://news.com.com/2100-7344_3-5106119.html?tag=nefd_top

They are still developing a desktop version, just primarily focused for business usesrs. Let's face it, that is where the market needs to go, in order to see it in the home more. Would we all have Windows PC's at home, had we not been using them at work? Just as Microsoft made it into the home market, through the corporate desktop, years ago, I think Linux will have to do the same.

It's a shame about Knoppix.. hopefully the laws won't go forward. Either that or hopefully someone in North America can pick up where Knoppix left off. It really is one of the better distributions for those starting out on Linux.

[Greg]

Well since Anaconda and ZT seem to think Ziff-Davis isn't a credable news report, what do you think of this?

http://www.silicon.com/software/os/0,39024651,39116741,00.htm

The guy has to be making a cash deal with M$. You don't conceid to your or what you made the public think is your competition.

[Anaconda]

Actually I missed the ZDnet link in your first post. So I never read the article.. that's why I was asking all those questions.

However, after reading the article. I don't believe that redhat has conceded and given up.. (Conceded implies surrender) They are only saying that TODAY, Windows is still a better choice for the home user. I would agree with this.. Linux still has a long ways to go before the everyday person can install and use it. I personally still like Linux better, but I am a technically savvy user. The majority of home users aren't.

[Greg]

Well I agree too. I'm not trying to disprove his statements. I just wonder what good it does Redhat to come out and make such a statement.

[Mojo_Joe]

Just curious, while I am not really a total "newbie" (I am more tech/computer savvy than most folks, but am not a programmer IS professional by any means), why would I (or any other average person) want to run Linux?

What is the point for a home user?

[Greg]

At the present there is probably not much that is attractive to the home user.

Sound and video require manual setup and games are not abundant.

If you are a user that does alot of work on the web and M$ office type stuff there are apps that work out of the box that are free.

There needs to be alot more done on the hardware side to detect and enable alot of new high end video and USB stuff too.

For me as a server/firewall/router it's great. The firewall could be replaced by a 30$ router/firewall, but is more flexable. The server is great to run a backup of these forums on for test purposes. These are not things the average user needs.

[Hammer]

Originally posted by Mojo_Joe
Just curious, while I am not really a total "newbie" (I am more tech/computer savvy than most folks, but am not a programmer IS professional by any means), why would I (or any other average person) want to run Linux?

What is the point for a home user?

Well for the most part for the average Joe Homeuser, it's all about control and tinkering. If you like to tinker and/or if you like total control over every aspect of your OS, then Linux is the way to go, no doubt. There are also many advantages if you are lucky enough to have at least a broadband connection on the server end of things. Everything from an ftp server to your very own email server is at your finger tips, all for free.

[Zero Tolerance]

not to mention that if you are comfortable with command line only type of interface...you can run it on OLDer macines

i dont use linux on workstations...but b4 my move...i had an old Unisys mainframe server that I used for my gateway/firewall and had it set up for testing php stuff on

but I have to agree....the "average home user" has enough problems trying to install windows.....let alone an OS that sometimes you may have to write your own drivers for some of your hardware