Collins Richey wrote:
>> endeavors justify the decsion - ethics, community vs. vendor support,
>> etc., etc. I've heard many comments to the effect that we CentOS users
>> are just leaches, since RedHat does the major work. I would like to
>> know how those of you who use CentOS in commercial
>
>
Collins,
I'm sorry if I am unable to follow the question of ethics here. At what
point did Red Hat's efforts in the open source community become magical
and change the ethical environment Red Hat lives in for people
downstream of Red Hat? Your question pre-supposes that because CentOS is
downstream of Red Hat then somehow it is different than Red Hat being
downstream of the Linux kernel developers & others (fill in other names
as you see fit). Red Hat is downstream of well over 99.99% of the 'major
work'.
Red Hat has built a business around using freely available software. As
part of the licence provided by upstream authors who created, enhanced,
and often support the software Red Hat is required to make the software
source others created and they use for their business available to
others to use as they see fit (within terms of licence). Exactly the
same as Red Hat taking the source from upstream and using as they see
fit (WTOL).
Commercial vs. community support is not an ethical choice. Neither is
Red Hat's leveraging the efforts of the community to build a commercial
enterprise. The community knowingly provided their efforts to others to
do exactly what we, and Red Hat are doing.
regards Dave
HornfordAssociates.com
