[Discuss] Oracle Linux, going after CentOs

[markw at mohawksoft.com (Mark Woodward)]

On 07/24/2012 11:46 AM, Richard Pieri wrote:
> On 7/24/2012 10:08 AM, Matthew Gillen wrote:
>> They're not really building their own distro.  They are doing what
>> CentOS does, namely distributing a rebranded RHEL.
>
> Oracle is selling support for a rebranded RHEL.
>
> Everything Oracle does has one purpose: to generate revenue for 
> Oracle.  Larry Ellison couldn't care less about CentOS shops because 
> they're not going to pay Oracle or Red Hat or Novell anything anyway.
>
> The real target is Red Hat shops that use CentOS for systems that 
> don't require service contracts.
I don't think it is just that, no way. The target is RedHat all the way. 
Like you said, CentOS customers are not buying support, period. The 
objective is to keep people from getting RedHat in the first place. So, 
they get a supported equivalent of RedHat for free. RedHat will have to 
change their model. For the longest time there was a wink and a nod to 
CentOS being the "Free Version" of RHEL. With Oracle, they are proposing 
the support proposition of RHEL, but with no initial acquisition cost.

You are a startup. You use CentOS for dev and shoe string bootstrapping. 
You start getting a little more serious, you upgrade to RHET on the next 
cycle, which is what you planned. Instead, however, Oracle says "start 
with us, its free, *and* you can buy support later." This is RedHat's 
old business model, before "raw hide" which morphed into Fedora.

Personally, I *HATE* with a passion Larry and Oracle, but I always felt 
betrayed when RedHat changed their business model after RedHat 5.0. Here 
is a situation where RedHat had better adjust or they will lose 
business. This has nothing to do with CentOS except that it will be 
destroyed as a result.