User Linux

James Drabb JDrabb at tampabay.rr.com
Thu Feb 12 04:23:02 UTC 2004


On Wed, 2004-02-11 at 08:21, Jay Turner wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 11, 2004 at 07:51:49AM -0500, James Drabb wrote:
> > First, let me state that I do despise MS, and I am playing devils
> > advocate.  However, let us look at the cost over 5 years for RHPW and MS
> > Windows XP Home.  We need to assume that RH will support RHPW for 5
> > years and not drop support like RH 9.
> > 
> > RHPW year 1: $50
> > RHPW year 2: $60 for updates
> > RHPW year 3: $60 for updates
> > RHPW year 4: $60 for updates
> > RHPW year 5: $60 for updates
> > ----------------------------
> >            $290 over 5 years
> > 
> > MS XP Home year 1: $99
> > MS XP Home year 2: $0
> > MS XP Home year 3: $0
> > MS XP Home year 4: $0
> > MS XP Home year 5: $0
> > ---------------------
> >      $99 over 5 years
> > 
> > Do you see the price difference?
> 
> The truth is actually somewhere in the middle.  Updates to the RHEL product
> line are completely free in source form.  They are posted on hundreds of
> mirror sites around the world and are free for anyone (not just customers
> of Red Hat) to download and use/distribute/laugh at . . . whatever someone
> feels like doing with them.  And since RHPW is a part of the RHEL family,
> you will indeed see us supporting the product for 5 years, so your total
> cost for RHPW over 5 years should be "$50 + some time to recompile
> updates."

For a technical user that is an option.  It is not an option however,
for a typical home/SOHO user.

> Saying you are paying $60 for updates isn't the whole story.  For $60, you
> not only get access to a fact pipe for the updates, but you also get access
> to the management features which are part of Red Hat Network.  More
> information about what is included in the $60/year subscription is
> available at http://www.redhat.com/software/rhn/update/.  One of the nicest
> features is that you can remotely manage the updates on your machine, so
> from any net-enabled machine in the world, you can issue updates to your
> machine whereever it is.  In addition, you can receive email notifications
> when updates are released which are necessary on your system, and choose to
> have those updates applied automatically.

I love the management feature and I use it at work on my RHAS 2.1/3
servers.  It is worth the price for servers.

I am a big fan of Red Hat and Fedora.  I just wish that Red Hat did not
abandon the home/SOHO user for the corporate world.

> - jkt

Jim Drabb
-- 
---------------------------------------------------------
The box said: "Requires Windows 98/2000/NT/XP or better."
So, I installed LINUX!
---------------------------------------------------------
James Drabb JR
Senior Programmer Analyst
Davenport, FL USA





More information about the fedora-list mailing list