Re: GNU licenses

[Alexander Terekhov]

Alexander Terekhov wrote:
> 
> John Hasler wrote:
> >
> > > Well, you can also get whitebox Linux or something like that...
> 
> [Red Hat's free-riders]
> 
> >
> > White Box Linux and Centos.
> 
> WBL is not well supported. Centos has more friends (Sun Microsystems
> and OpenSolaris Project). At some point Red Hat will have to fire core
> programmers and only packagers will stay (free-riders do not have the
> overhead of patronage and can offer the same patching services). 

Now, this is fun:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061025/tc_nm/oracle_dc_1
(Oracle CEO targets Red Hat with half-price offer)

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31 minutes ago

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq:ORCL - news) is taking 
aim at Red Hat Inc. (Nasdaq:RHAT - news), the top distributor of Linux 
operating system software, with an offer to provide half-price technical 
support to Red Hat Linux users, Chairman and Chief Executive Larry 
Ellison said on Wednesday. 

Speaking at the company's annual user conference in San Francisco, the 
technology industry's most outspoken executive said Oracle was seeking 
to solve key problems that have held back the development of Linux among 
big corporate customers.

"As of this moment, Oracle is announcing full support for Red Hat Linux," 
Ellison told thousands of attendees at the company's annual OracleWorld 
conference. "The goal is to enhance and speed the adoption of Linux."

"Our support costs less than half what Red Hat charges," Ellison added.

Linux is the most popular varient of open source software, which allows 
developers to share code in order to focus on creating new features 
themselves. Software like Linux allows customers to use programs for 
free, paying only for custom features, maintenance and technical 
support.

(Additional reporting by Eric Auchard) 
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regards,
alexander.