[Cumbria] Red Hat shoots itself in foot?

[Michael Saunders]

On Tue, 28 Jan 2003, Schwuk wrote:

> I did see this, but the problem is a lot of people (esp. managers)
> will read this and only see the "12 months" bit, and decide to go
> elsewhere...

Oh definitely -- don't get me wrong, I think it's a bit worrying too
(just not as bad as the Reg makes out). Yeah, companies like to see
lengthy support options -- IBM still make money selling mainframes and
software to run code from 20+ years ago.

> OK, so there's an Advanced Server (costing $799 - $2499), and
> soon-to-be Advanced Workstation ($?). Fine for the enterprise, but
> what about the SME market? We've got RH Professional, but will that
> continue to exist with Adv.Workstation?

Well, a Red Hat rep apparently stated that the main downloadable
distro is generally for community purposes -- to keep the geeks on the
ground using it, and popularity high. Not sure what the Adv WS distro
is going to cost yet, but I assume they've weighed it all up.

> Will a personal desktop really sell?

Probably not very well at the moment, but desktop Linux is snowballing
now with OpenOffice, Moz and KDE3/GNOME2. They're probably more
interested in getting OEM deals with the likes of Dell.

> > UnitedLinux is screwed. The only talented Linux company they have
> 
> I always said they wouldn't get very far...

Yeah, I think SuSE has more positive brand value and recognition (esp.  
here in Europe) that being lumped in with has-beens like TurboLinux
won't help. SuSE has a lot of strengths (shut it Chris!) and I hope
this quixotic venture doesn't slowly destroy them.

On a similar note, what does everyone make of Mandrake's current
financial woes? There's talk of community-ising the distro to turn it
into a flashier Debian, and it has enough fans to make that viable
IMO, but it'd be sad to see a high-profile distro company go down.

Oh, and KDE 3.1 is out in case anyone's missed it...

Mike

-- 
Michael Saunders
www.aster.fsnet.co.uk