[wplug] Newbie Questions (Reason)

[Lance Tost]

On Tue, 12 Aug 2003, Anand Nimbalkar wrote:
> A stupid question:
> If Linux is free how come RedHat charges 30 + for desktop version  and 1000 
> + for Server?

You're paying for their packaging and/or support.  The "Advanced Server" 
line (now called AS, ES and WS I think) is a stable collection of packages 
(not necessarily cutting edge) that allows third parties (Oracle, SAP, 
etc) to develop, test and certify their applications against.  

You can still download the RedHat ISO images for free and get exactly what 
you'd get at CompUSA (minus the paper documentation).  And, you can still 
use this free copy for a server, as long as you certify all program 
versions and patch levels are supported by your software.  Remember that 
big third-party software developers (ie., Oracle, SAP) may not support 
their application in an environment like this even if you can get it to 
work.  I know SAP requires SuSE Enterprise or RedHat AS 2.1 with a 
specific kernel available from one of their FTP sites.
 

> And if companies are saving $$$ can I conclude that it is actually reduction 
> in cost from may be 5000 that MicroSucks I mean SOFT charges to 1000 + that 
> Redhat does ?

Huh?  A reduction in cost is a reduction in cost.  Yes, big corporations 
are probably still going to demand that they subscribe to some sort of 
support (trust me, I've tried insisting in the past that Google would be 
good enough, but managers don't buy it)... but consider you can buy 
"desktop" Redhat for what, $30 you say?  That comes with pretty much 
everything you need for the average desktop user (E-Mail, web browsing, 
OpenOffice)... For Windows, you need to buy the OS ($99? retail) and 
Office (~ $300 for the upgrade?).


-- 
Lance Tost <ltost at pobox.com>