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Oracle to Compete With Red Hat for Linux Support

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the and-the-consumer-wins dept.

PCM2 writes "It's not Oracle Linux, but Larry Ellison has announced that Oracle will be providing full enterprise support for Linux. This means not just phone calls but also patches, security fixes, and backports, in addition to indemnification from lawsuits like SCO's. This puts Oracle in direct competition with its erstwhile partner, Red Hat, whose entire business is based on providing similar support for its Linux distro and related software."

12 of 221 comments (clear)

  1. first step towards buying red hat? by carlivar · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Perhaps just a strategy to get RHAT stock low enough to buy them?

    --
    Vote Libertarian
  2. I understand.... by Creepy+Crawler · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Why they would want their own distribution (either buy Rhat or make their own)..

    But why not use established systems with guaranteed update mechanisms? Something like Debian with the stable branch comes to mind.

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  3. Extended warranty? by Junta · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ok, in summary, Oracle will support only RHEL3 and RHEL4 distributions (per TFA). They didn't mention CentOS and said they wouldn't be packing it themselves, so the implication it is only copies purchased from RH. Best I can figure is that Oracle would be offering the equivalent of an 'extended warranty', targetting those who took the shortest support contract possible from RedHat and paying oracle with the rest, meaning either their hoping their name will carry weight or they plan to undercut RedHat for long term contracts.

    TFA says RedHat doesn't sell the 'OS', but that's bullocks. You cannot legally get RHEL without paying for it (some of the copyrighted artwork and name), hence the whole point of the existence of projects like CentOS. Their fundamental business is built on support, but it changes not the fact that they do not give away the distro they sell anymore.

    --
    XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    1. Re:Extended warranty? by RunzWithScissors · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The goal is to not pay Red Hat a dime. Think about it, how does CentOS work? Easy, Red Hat, being an open source company, releases the sourcecode for the entire Red Hat Enterprise Linux distribution. Then CentOS takes the source code, removes all the copyrighted artwork and such, and BAM! CentOS. Oracle basically says they're going to do the same thing with their "Unbreakable Linux". So, you can get RHEL with out paying for it. Grab the source RPMs, remove the artwork, and rebuild binary RPMs.

      Really, this is Crazy Larry being pissed off that Red Hat bought JBoss. He's going to stick it to Red Hat the only way he can, run his own Linux support business, at a loss, in order to grab marketshare from Red Hat. Once Red Hat is anemic enough, or belly up, and his own customer base is large enough, he'll jack up the rate to something that's profitable. In Economic terms, this is known as "dumping". Flooding the market with low cost goods in order to gain market share. Then when all the competitors go out of business, you have a monopoly. And we all know what happens when someone has a monopoly...

      -Runz

  4. Yay. by sloth+jr · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Because Oracle commits tons of code to the mainline linux kernel, unlike RedHat....

    Oracle seems to support Oracle - like ocfs2, which so far as I can tell, is the only substantial Oracle contribution in mainline.

    grep -r oracle.com /usr/src/linux
    grep -r redhat.com /usr/src/linux

    RedHat has invested in major contributors by putting them on staff. Oracle? Not so much.

  5. So? by TXG1112 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If it's anything like their support for their flagship products, Oracle and PeopleSoft don't bother. Anytime we report an issue with our multi-million dollar enterprise implementation, they spend several weeks trying to find some other party to blame. It's your hardware, no it's the network....etc.

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    I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered. My life is my own.
    1. Re:So? by ilmdba · · Score: 4, Interesting

      i've found oracle's support for their database and financials products to be great.

      anytime i reported an issue with our several thousand dollar implimentation, they either already had a patch that fixed it, or had one shortly thereafter.

      so i guess everyone can mod both of these 'my individual experience' posts down, and call it even?

  6. It's about the value chain by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Oracle's internal organization and practices lead to expensive services. They probably can't compete with Red Hat on price.

    My guess is that Oracle isn't really targeting Red Hat, they're targeting IBM and eventually Microsoft. Larry E. isn't noted for humility and, if he takes out Red Hat, it's just a way station on the road to a greater goal.

  7. Good news but for unexpected reasons. by Lethyos · · Score: 4, Interesting

    RedHat is stagnant. I have to admit a degree of ignorance here, but as far as I can tell, they are not really doing anything to excite interest in their market. They offer support and their own distribution (apart from Fedora Core) at outrageously high prices. (Even Windows server solutions are cheaper than RedHat.) Sure they gobbled up JBoss, but I do not think there is as much market overlap as one might suspect.

    I might even go so far as to say RedHat has done a fair amount of damage to Linux adoption: they create high costs and little value or innovation likely because they face no direct competition.

    With Oracle entering the picture, RedHat will be compelled to move quickly—to at least do something. I am not even quite sure what that is, but one way or another, this is adds choice for the market and that is always good, whether it results in a better RedHat or no RedHat.

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    Why bother.
  8. It turns out my information was outdated. by Lethyos · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have not checked the prices of comparable RedHat and Microsoft server offerings. It turns out that RedHat is still cheaper, but by a trivial amount. Compare the RedHat Store (see: Server Operating System Products) and Windows Server 2003 R2 Pricing. (Wouldn't it be nice if Slashdot support post annotation or editing?)

    At any rate, Windows might still be a superior server platform thanks to the effectiveness of ActiveDirectory, fine-grained ACL, and so on. I am no Windows apologist (on the contrary, quite the advocate of open source solutions), but I fear Microsoft may be leaping far ahead of their competition in this space.

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    Why bother.
  9. Re:I'm confused... by chill · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Oracle, unlike CentOS, has money. They hire the fleeing Red Hat people and eventually buy the shell of what was Red Hat for a song. Larry, being partial to bowlers, adopts a new logo.

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    Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  10. Ex-Oracle OSS strategy guy's view by savio13 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Very interesting blog by Dave Dargo, who, according to Matt Assay, used to lead Oracle's open source strategy, about the Oracle Linux announcement.

    An interesting point from Dave:
    I'm mostly curious as to why Oracle's first real support network is for someone else's product. Where's the Oracle Database Network and Applications Network and PeopleSoft Network and Siebel Network? Where are the support infrastructure networks for Oracle's own products to automatically distribute fixes, patches and alerts?
    And this quote made me laugh:
    It's amazing that they can provide all that for a mere $399 for a competitor's products, but not for their own $200,000 product.