CentOS (RHEL) vs. Fedora
 

I know this question has been asked a lot in the past but noone in my searches has actually given any information other than repeating the info at:

http://fedora.redhat.com/about/rhel.html

OK, so:

(1) Besides lack of support, how does CentOS compare with RHEL? Especially in terms of:
(a) any useful programs that are removed due to copyright and
(b) updates -- using CentOS do you get updates from RHELs servers? Or are the only updates for 3rd party software packages?

(2) CentOS vs Fedora now.
(a) Similarly, is there useful stuff that isnt in CentOS but is in Fedora.
(b) How does user interface/ease of use compare? Any difference whatsoever? Isnt KDE the same no matter the distro?
(c) Whats all this about less stability and bleeding edge? -- is fedora core *really* so much more tuned towards linux professionals, not newbies like me?
(d) Updates again. Does using CentOS mean that programs will not update to latest versions, just bug fixes, whereas Fedora will have, ultimately, better versions of most programs?

At the end of the day, is there THAT much of a difference between CentOS and Fedora?

Overall, which do you recommend for standard home desktop single user machine?

I got a million questions but thats all I can think right now, plenty to go at anyway.

Cheers,

(1)
(a) Don;t know for sure. Did you check www.centos.org ?
(b) CentOS maintains their own set of mirror sites and they build updates from the RHEL sources. So you don't get updates from the RH servers, but the updates are the same (minus the trademarked stuff that gets taken out).

(2)
(a) Not that I can think of, but I don't have an exhaustive list of bundled software. Since RHEL4 is IIRC built off of FC3, you could probably make software for one work on the other with a bit of tweaking.
(b) Both use the Red Hat bluecurve stuff. If you like Bluecurve, you're set either way.
(c) The opposite, really. FC caters to the hobbyist market which wants up to date software. CentOS/RHEL is designed for the professional market that wants stability and long term software support.
(d) More or less, as I understand it. Again, CentOS/RHEL is designed for stability, not upgrading for the sake of upgrading (note that RH does backport new features into some packages).

At the end of the day, the difference is on emphasis (stability for CentOS vs. hobbyist more bleeding edge stuff for FC). Ultimately, either would do fine for a home desktop.

Just to say thanks for the answer, its really helped... though I'm still unsure which to choose.

Bluecurve has gone in Fedora Core 4, btw. Fedora is designed primarily as a test bed, it runs the latest software and has not gone through rigorous testing - that's what you are there for. Although I have heard it is stable and runs well.

RHEL and CentOS, by extension, are more conservative. Some newer features will have been backported, but they are both designed to run in production environments where stability is more important than new-ness.

Basically, decide what you want it for and then pick - new and potentially less stable, or conservative and very stable.

CentOS for my enterprising entrepreneurship
 

thanx for your response - i'm purchasing a virtual dedicated server from GoDaddy.com and needed to know which to choose. CentOS it is!

~ Ruby-dono