Redhats's official demise
 

Well it's official. here is the e-mail I received from Redhat:

Dear Red Hat Linux 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 and 8.0 customers,

In accordance with our errata support policy, the Red Hat Linux 7.1,
7.2, 7.3 and 8.0 distributions have now reached their errata maintenance
end-of-life.

This means that we will no longer be producing security, bugfix, or
enhancement updates for these products. Red Hat Linux 9 reaches end
of life on April 30, 2004.

As our product family grows and expands, we want to help you
migrate to the Red Hat solution that is right for you. Whether that's
one of our Red Hat Enterprise Linux products or the Fedora Project, our
Red Hat Linux Migration Resource Center can help you find the Red Hat
solution best suited for your needs:

http://www.redhat.com/solutions/migration/rhl/

The errata support policy, as well as our current errata and advisories,
are available from:

http://www.redhat.com/apps/support/errata/

--the Red Hat Network Team

Fortunately they have helped to give us Fedora Core 1 and it works exceptionally well.

Probably just a rumor, mind you, but I heard that next week DeadRat is adding the Migrate to Slackware link to that site.

:cool:

Re: Redhats's official demise
 

If I were RedHat, I'd be embarrassed to be halting support this soon. Especially
since Microsoft has continued support on Windows 98 for such a long period of
time. Microsoft is even claiming they are going to support 98 for another three
years: http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/20...0113023415.htm

I might be wrong, but isn't this the second time they've extended support? I'm
not exactly saying that Microsoft is that great a company, but my respect for them
has increased from hearing about continued support.

Microsoft has the money to throw around and by continuing suppory they can continue to sell Win98 and related products.

Well, I just thought everyone should have the chance to see that and alot of people in Fedora forum probably wanted to see that too since FC1 is the next gen. of RH. Sorry.

:( :( :rolleyes: :D

I believe what Red Hat is attempting to do here is keep the Red Hat name associated with the enterprise side. Of course, they will still have Fedora around, but will not officially support it.

They want people to hear the name Red Hat and think only of their enterprise products.

I would say one reason Microsoft continued support is that they need to look like they are trying to keep the internet clean. And everybody knows there as still a lot of 98 machines.
If you ask me it was a good move on Microsoft to try and convince people they need to upgrade. They planted the seed to Win98 users that they are using old technology that shouldn't be supported, but they are still supporting so as not to truley alienate millions of their customers. A little dirty and manipulative, but smart.

If that is the case, then I have truly lost all credibilty for Red Hat. I have known about Linux for roughly 4-5 years now, and for me Red Hat WAS Linux everything else was just kids stuff. When I thought Red Hat I thought Linux, and when I thought Linux I thought Red Hat, there was no other combination. I know I am not alone in this thought process either. I tell people that I am running, and those that know what linux is ask me, "oh is it Red Hat?" My dad (who introduced me to Linux in the first place) and I the other night were talking about the future of Linux and what the next big brand might be, and it took him a few minutes to think of the names (I knew almost all the names due to this site) of the other distros. We simply had never bothered to look at them, as we always had Red Hat.

I feel Red Hat may have made a terrible mistake just simply giving up there name to a product. And that will do nothing but hurt Linux in the Microsoft-Linux war. Because face it, name association is key. Red Hat could have (and really still could be) a BIG contender for Linux. They could have gained a huge following behind their name. That would not only have helped Linux but would have helped themsleves too.

Fedora Core may survive, but I doubt it. With out that name behind it, I honestly don't think it will do as well as Red Hat did.

You are free to disagree with me of course, but that is my opinion.

Mike

Fedora Core will not only survive, it will thrive. RedHat may not support it, but will still be the driving force behind its development. Existing clients of RH may feel betrayed because they have changed their business model. They are not the first or last company to do so and invariably, some folks will feel shortchanged by the change. IMHO, the the long-term survival of RH as a company will benefit us all.

Microsoft has made the busness decision to keep supporting Win98. I think it was because they also want to ensure their long-term survival as a company. Many people still run Win98 because:
a) came with their PC (i.e. they have older hardware)
b) use their PC to send email, surf the net, do homework, type letters, keep track of their finances (i.e. basic home users)
c) they don't want to pay the money to upgrade their PC and/or buy a new OS & office suite because what they have now suits their needs just fine (i.e. they are not married to MS)

These people sound like perfect candidates to switch over to linux, don't you agree? It's free (for the most part), runs great on older hardware and does simple home stuff beautifully. If enough of these people switched to linux and heaven forbid, convince their employers that they can be just as productive without having to upgrade the whole office... You get the picture.

RH is providing Fedora Core to all of us, free of charge, with no support. And I like it that way. For all I know, Fedora may have set a record for picking up users as a "new" distro. Debian, Gentoo, Slackware, et. all took years to build their user base. Fedora has only been around for a few months and we have already seen derivative distros and live-CDs beng created from it. This is only the beginning and the future looks good.

I suppose you are right, but as I stated above, I feel that if the Red Hat name was still tied to the FC1, it would have been a smarter move.

I am a little confused by your statement about the Live-CD's thing. What point are you making here:

1) That Fedora has only been around for a few months and has already exploded into the market with a user base?

Or

2) that because Fedora Project and Red Hat merged, there was a huge user base from the get go, thus new distros/live-cds have been created faster?

Mike

The points I was trying to make are that Live-CDs generally will accelerate a distros acceptance rate. How many people have installed Debian after using Knoppix? Gentoo after using their Live CD? Also that a stable base system and an abundance of software are usually the prerequisites for a live-CD. Fedora has both.

ok, I see your point. Also I don't know how you took my question to you but I wasn't trying to be an ass about it. I re-read that and it looks like it could have been taken the wrong way, hope it didnt offend you.

Mike

Mike,

Thanks for adding that - some posts seem to indicate the opposite.

Variety is the spice of life. However, there is only ONE Linux kernel, not many distributions of it. Distributions are different flavors of GNU/Linux as a whole, as well as software that may not totally qualify as Free Software. And different distros have different philosophies and objectives, so they're not all intended for the same group of people.

The RedHat name was widely known - that's why so many Linux users got upset when the RedHat representative announced that Linux wasn't ready for the home user market, but that most of those people should stick with Windoze (something like that is what was reported - I never could find the actual source of it). That report, whether true or not, would hurt "the cause" of Linux distros more than anything I've seen since migrating to Linux from Windoze. I believe that changing the name from RedHat to Fedora is going to hurt the business of RedHat, but not the "cause of Linux," if you want to call it that.

But we must remember, Linus Torvalds didn't write the Linux kernel to compete with Micro$loth, but rather, to improve on Minix. The distributions that are not commercial distributions, such as Slackware, are not competing with Mirco$loth as a business. They are just people who enjoy Open Source software, and promote it for their benefit, as well as the benefit of others.

Linux is another choice for consumers, just like the Mac OS. I'm trying to promote Open Source via Linux in my little corner of the world. And if you've heard the news, this country is pusing "Linux" in a big way!

Micro$loth is really a joke where I live. Nobody buys the software, they just copy it and give it to each other for the cost of a CD. So the fact that a Linux distro may be free doesn't move these guys - you've got to prove that you can set it up for their hardware, and they can use the same form of applications with it, and produce work. It's easy for them to point-and-click along with M$, and when they have a problem, the just reinstall the thing. I'm very interested to see what Sun distributes, and how it works with different hardware. I really feel that what they're doing, if it's going to be made to run well "out of the box," will be installed on a pre-built computer, much like Mac OS.

Brother Michael -

Believe me, no offense was taken. I just enjoy a good debate:)

[QOUTE]
Mike,

Thanks for adding that - some posts seem to indicate the opposite.
[/QOUTE]

You are welcome, and I suppose after really thinking about it, hkctr and chinaman, you are correct. Linux is Linux, because the beating heart of the system is the same.

And I do hope that Fedora Core does survive, and encourage or at least educate more people that there are other options in this computer world. As a side note, I never really expected Linux to challenge Microsoft either, I just always felt Microsoft was lacking for me.

Mike