Why Would Fedora be Free ? Can it be Trusted?

[Chalonec Roger]

Thanks.  I also have had an amazingly positive experience so far.  I am
running on a 400Mhz PII.  I just wanted to get some thoughts on real
world-real live answers to my colleagues questions and you have help a
lot.

Roger

-----Original Message-----
From: fedora-list-bounces at redhat.com
[mailto:fedora-list-bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of Robin Laing
Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 10:53 AM
To: For users of Fedora Core releases
Subject: Re: Why Would Fedora be Free ? Can it be Trusted?


Chalonec Roger wrote:
> All,
> 
> I am looking at using Fedora at my work and some people are asking the

> following questions or have the following concerns that I did not know

> how to answer:
> 
> 1.  Why is fedora free and why would people work on it for free? 2. 
> Some people are concerned that since Fedora is open source that they 
> don't know where the software comes from so they can't trust it.  How 
> can they trust it? 3.  How are updates to Fedora vetted and accepted? 
> 4. Does Redhat have any involvement with Fedora? 5.  Does Redhat use 
> the same processes in "controlling" fedora quality and releases as it 
> did the free versions of Redhat? 6. Ostensibly Redhat offered free 
> versions of Redhat Linux because they could make a profit on support.

> Now Redhat has built a market and Redhat is no longer free.  What is 
> the profit motivation of the Fedora group and persons/orgs who make 
> software contributions to it?  (By the way, there is nothing wrong 
> with profit.)
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Roger
> 
> 

Can you trust Microsoft to reflect your best interests?  They are 
concerned about their bottom line.  Why else would they integrate 
everything into the OS to restrict and eliminate competition. (IE, 
WMP, Networking)

Here is an interesting article about licensing and how it could be a 
headache.

Software Licensing: The Hidden Truth
<http://www.thejemreport.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=artic
le&sid=114>

I don't know about your business but I have been using Linux for my 
work for over a year.  Many have used it longer and I have yet to hear 
of anyone having any problems with virus attacks.

I have used Linux at home since 1999 (moved from OS2) with much joy.

There are various reports that have stated that OpenSource software is 
not secure and open to attack.  Some of these were paid for by 
Microsoft and I would doubt that they are really un-biased.

Here is a link to a discussion of linux security and usage in 
business.  Follow the links from this site to the original.

Yankee Group report: Bad news, good news for Linux
<http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=04/05/07/182208>

If you search through various articles  you will find that any attack 
to the Linux source is usually found very quickly.  Also if you check 
alot of security reports you will find that attackers have major 
problems attacking Linux because each distribution is different and 
each install can have differences so there is no common attack point.

Security Expert: Cyber Attack Cycle Is Tightening
<http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/cmp/20040511/tc_cmp/203
00258>

I use FC1 at home and work and my wife wouldn't even let me look at 
dual-boot at home. :)  I had my first problem at home late lastnight 
requiring a reboot since may last kernel upgrade in march.

One thing about Linux in a work environment is that you can control 
what is on each workstation or server.  You can also use Linux on 
older hardware that would choke under Windows.  I used RH 7.3 at home 
on a P90 until January when we purchased a new computer.  The P90 
still runs as a file server.  I am going to try FC on it just for the 
fun of it.

-- 
Robin Laing


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