There are over 300 distributions listed on DistroWatch.com, but Red Hat’s CEO, Matthew Szulik, maintained that choice and specialization outweighed any advantage that might be gained by focusing customer attention on a smaller number of offerings.
There are over 300 distributions listed on DistroWatch.com, but Red Hat’s CEO, Matthew Szulik, maintained that choice and specialization outweighed any advantage that might be gained by focusing customer attention on a smaller number of offerings.
Novell is putting together a great product, and they are also undercutting RHEL’s price. Give Novell enough time, and as long as they don’t screw it up and keep up the great work they’ve been doing, and they will have a very good chance at catching Red Hat.
I really do wish RedHat the best of luck. Although they are a little pricey, they are truly the most innovative and the most technically advanced Linux company. I will be rooting for them at my little corner and whenever I want a fully supported Linux, I will always buy from them. I know they will be in here for the long haul and I know that when it comes to Linux, they are the Linux experts. Novell on the otherhand is just a business that is gambling with Linux. They might be here today but they might be running to Microsoft tommorrow.
RedHat has little to worry about from anyone as far as Linux business goes. All the fud in the world doesn’t make up for the fact thier distro is always pushing the envelope with newer and better tech. They are first to have something more often than not cause they’re the ones funding its development.
Sometimes I wish they got the credit they deserve, but I can understand why other distros users and developers dislike them. They’re damn good at what they do. So much so they don’t take share with dirty tactics, lies and snakedeals including buy outs. They just flat out make the better products and have the better services. There really isn’t a way around this for competitors.
A fragmented Linux front is to RedHats advantage. They risk the community becoming united behind a Linux distro other then theirs.
I just wish I didn’t need to download ISO’s to go from fc3 -> fc4 -> fc5 whenever it comes out.
In that respect I wish it was more like Debian
While a live update is not recommended its possible
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FAQ#head-258e4efff9879474c4725667cc55…
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/YumUpgradeFaq
well, I’ve tried it from fc2 to fc3 and from fc3 to fc4 and guess what – wouldn’t even boot with the first pair, X didn’t work in the second… in brief, it’s pretty risky
Yes. Live upgrades are more riskier. Debian last upgrades using apt ended up broken too for example. So things like a conversion from lvm1 to lvm2 cannot be done during a live upgrade either by apt or by yum or any other package manager
I agree. I have well understood why RedHat is the #1 leader in the States. They simply do not play games. They are serious and professional. They have a vision, a clear vision. It’s one thing to have a plan for something, it’s another thing to follow a vision and execute on it.
As usual, many so-called reporters here in the US tend to confuse the US with the World. Because things are a certain way here, that does not mean it is the same someplace else.
RedHat might be the most used Linux distribution (within businesses) in the US. But in Europe and other parts of the World, things are a little bit different. SuSE has always been more dominant in Europe than RedHat, and the same can be said about other distros in other parts of the World.
The deal of Novell buying SuSE has to do with Novell expanding into markets where SuSE is dominant (aka Europe) and moving SuSE into markets where Novell has a (shrinking) base (aka USA), and getting some mileage out of it.
read the article
Mr Cornett added that in fact Red Hat did more Linux business in some individual European counties than Novell did worldwide
Novell had SUSE Linux Enterprise Server revenue of $8m in its third quarter, ended July 31, 2005, with about 47% coming from North America, 37% from EMEA, and 16% the rest of the world. In comparison, Red Hat had subscription revenue of $54.3m in its second quarter, ended August 31, 2005
RedHat opened up branchs in Germany and got a contract with the second largest ISV there aswell as many other contracts. Red Hat isn’t just a USA thing like so many like to parrot. It’s basically know as the best business distro out and anyone who’s unbiast about what countries software comes from will agree. The only reason to choose Novell over redhat would be if you want to sacrifice price for quality. straight up.
Here we come Ubuntu and Debian…. my company just move 800 machines away from redhat 🙂
I haven’t used Redhat in a long while (since 7.3), and whilst I’ve downloaded a dvd iso for Fedora RC4, I haven’t installed it yet on my 2nd system due to it have a dodgy dvd rom drive. I’ve used Debian since Woody was released and would never go back. That’s as a personal user. Of course, I’d have a looksie 😉
From a business user perspective, I’d be tempted to go Solaris 10 rather than Redhat (or Novell), but it all depends on your needs. I would personally never go with any Sun product, but many business people will consider it I think, especially in its latest incarnation.
Dave
I remember Redhat buying out Cygnus, yes that’s right Redhat has done consolidation itself.
Cygnus was never in the distribution business. The article is referring to consolidation between distributions.