ES or Fedora

[Robert Canary]

Well according to their pre-sales (I called)....

ME: "The website says the CD and distribution manual are,..'optional?'

RH: "The current distribution is 4.4, the box set is only 4.1, everybody 
always wants to download it. So it is an extra $25 for the box set."

ME:"The price has gone up substantially, so I am wondering exactly what 
is it I am buying if you don't even send the box set anymore."

RH:"30 days support, and one year of updates[RedHat Network]"

ME: Whooooaa!  Okay Thank you.

I guess they have taken a new twist on the market.  They'll give you the 
software, but charge you for the right to update.  I guess its not as 
bad as the other guys, who charge you for a broken OS, and charge you 
again when they release new version to fix the old version.

Humph......Okay I'll buy the ES with the 4.1 CDs.  I'm okay with that :-)




Robert Canary wrote:

> I read on the website that the latest release was built in 2005.  Anyone 
> know when the next release is due out.
> 
> Aleksandar Milivojevic wrote:
> 
>> Quoting Robert Canary <rwcanary at ocdirect.net>:
>>
>>> Weeeeellll, these will be production systems.  I have been doing Linux
>>> and Unix flavors long enough I really don't need the "Hand-Holdng" tech
>>> support.  However, I'm interested in having a support network for
>>> updating RPMS when there is security issues.  And I do like being able
>>> add a package via up2date and it also collecting the dependant RPMs as
>>> well.
>>
>>
>>
>> A free RHEL clone such as CentOS might be a good fit than.  It will  
>> provide you with updates via yum as long as Red Hat is providing  
>> updates for corresponding RHEL release.  You'll also be able to  
>> install packages and dependencies in the same way.  I've never  
>> attempted to use up2date with CentOS.  However, i thing I read  
>> somewhere that it should be functional.  However it will simply use  
>> yum as backend (so you might as well use it directly).  You might 
>> want  to recheck that.
>>
>> However, there are still other things to consider that may sway you  
>> towards buying RHEL.
>>
>> There'll be delay (sometimes only hours, sometimes a day or two)  
>> between Red Hat fixing a security related bug and releasing the  
>> update, and that same update being available on the CentOS (and other  
>> clones).  The clones have to wait until Red Hat releases the update,  
>> than rebuild the RPM package.  Depending on the environment this 
>> might  or might not be an issue.
>>
>> Maybe you don't need "hand-holding" tech support.  However, if you 
>> run  some propriatory software on the server, that vendor might  
>> (rightfully) tell you your system is not supported because it doesn't  
>> have RHEL sticker on it.  And refuse to troubleshoot something that 
>> is  bug in their software.  They tested and support their application  
>> against binary that Red Hat provides.  Not somebody else.  Even it 
>> the  binary is built from exactly the same source.
>>
>> If there's some obscure bug in the system (for example in kernel or 
>> in  one of applications) you might get better support if you are 
>> running  "the real thing".  If running CentOS, Red Hat can (again 
>> completely  rightfully) tell you "well, yeah, we made that SRPM that 
>> somebody else  compiled into binary RPM, but it's not really in our 
>> domain to  troubleshoot it becasue it's not our binary and we are not 
>> going to  troubleshoot something that somebody else might have changed 
>> even if  they claim they haven't changed it".  Usually they'll fix 
>> bugs even if  you run into them on the clones (if there's bug in the 
>> clone, there's  exactly the same bug in the original too).  However, 
>> if it's something  obscure that affects only you, it's not going to be 
>> exactly high  priority for them to fix it (they have other people 
>> running "the real  thing" lined up for fixes).
>>
>>> Are those thing still available with ES?  What exactly are the
>>> implication of an annaul subscription?  This thing isn't going to
>>> shutdown if I don't resubscribe will it?
>>
>>
>>
>> It's not going to shutdown itself.  But access to updates will be  
>> terminated.  I'd check that license agreement too.  Maybe it says you  
>> are supposed to shut it down ;-)
>>
>>
>>
> 
>