On Sun, 27 Mar 2005 07:47:45 -0800 (PST), Paul Heinlein
<heinlein@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Sun, 27 Mar 2005, Collins Richey wrote:
>
> > More fuel for the community support model, as opposed to the
> > official (paid) support channels.
>
> There are (at least) three different kinds of support involved:
>
> 1. troubleshooting after installation,
>
> 2. packaging and patching,
>
> 3. architecture building.
>
> User lists are great at the first kind. It's unlikely that a
> corporate support team, no matter how good it is, can match the
> collective wisdom of its user base when it comes to real-world
> troubleshooting.
>
> By using CentOS we are largely relying on Red Hat's professionals for
> the bulk of the latter two support items. Keeping up with the myriad
> security and bug fixes available for the software in even a minimal
> Linux installation is a large and painstaking job. Likewise,
> maintaining the installer, system-configuration tools, and overall
> package-layout scheme requires a large, concerted effort.
>
> So it's worth saying that Red Hat's customers are underwriting a
> considerable amount of the (necessary and well done) support we
> receive. Those .src.rpm packages we rebuild aren't for the most part
> constructed on volunteer time. :-)
>
Yes on all counts. Fortunately for all of us, RedHat are adhering to
the letter of the GPL concept, i.e. their value added is given back
to the OSS community. Even more fortunately, the CentOS volunteers
have done a bang-up job in repackaging the free content into an
extremely useful product.
--
Collins
When I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, 8 million of them,
it was the start of a new Arab world.... The Berlin Wall has fallen.
- Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt
