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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."

2 of 221 comments (clear)

  1. 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.

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  2. Re:I'm confused... by eln · · Score: 5, Informative

    Ellison explained it more fully in his presentation. Basically, Oracle will provide Enterprise support for RedHat as well as its own version of Linux called Unbreakable Linux. Unbreakable Linux will essentially be a copy of RedHat. Every time RedHat comes out with a new release, Oracle will take the source code, remove all of the RedHat trademarks, and release it as Unbreakable Linux. Oracle will allow both RedHat and Unbreakable installs to get support from them, including bug fixes, patches, and other software.

    All a RedHat client has to do to move to Oracle support for their RedHat install is to stop using RedHat's update servers and start using Oracle's. Oracle will provide patches, and will backport those patches to earlier revisions than RedHat does in order to keep enterprise-level clients from having to upgrade all of their systems too often.

    So, as it stands now, Oracle will basically be offering a higher level of support than RedHat for the same exact software for a lot less money. RedHat is going to be forced to drastically reduce their prices just to compete.

    I would think that over the longterm Oracle's Unbreakable Linux will fork off, especially if this ends up seriously damaging RedHat, but for now Unbreakable Linux is nothing more than a re-branded copy of RedHat.