Red Hat Releases Enterprise Linux 5

An anonymous reader writes "Red Hat has a new release out for Enterprise Linux, reports Ars Technica. Along with several anticipated new features, Enterprise Linux 5 marks the rollout of the RedHat Exchange (RHX), which will be a source for commercial third-party software applications. 'RHX will allow consumers to buy software support services for third-party open-source technologies like MySQL database software and SugarCRM customer management systems directly from Red Hat ... Linux vendor Novell, which recently partnered with Microsoft to provide stronger Windows interoperability, is already carving out a growing portion of the enterprise Linux market. Red Hat also has to contend with proprietary database vendor Oracle, who now offers commercial Linux support for Red Hat users.'"

Comments

Re:Enterprise Operating Systems

[CronScript]

$349 covers RHEL for a single, dual socket machine, 30 days of phone support and one year of updates. Support and updates for subsequent years are an additional $349 per year. It is $349 for EACH machine.

Here are more of Red Hat's terms:

5 Reporting and Inspection

5.1 Reporting. Client will promptly notify Red Hat if the number of Installed Systems exceeds the number of Installed Systems for which Client has paid the applicable fee. In its notice, Client will include both the number of additional Installed Systems and the date(s) on which such Installed Systems were put into use. Red Hat will invoice Client for the applicable Services for such Installed Systems on a pro-rata basis and Client will pay for such Services in accordance with this Agreement.

5.2 Inspection. During the term of this Agreement and for one (1) year thereafter, Red Hat or its designated agent may inspect and review Client's facilities and records in order to verify Client's compliance with this Agreement. Any such inspection and review will take place only during Client's normal business hours and upon no less than ten (10) days prior written notice from Red Hat. Red Hat will give Client written notice of any non-compliance, including the number of underreported Installed Systems, and Client will have fifteen (15) days from the date of such notice to make payment to Red Hat for the applicable Services provided to the underreported Installed Systems. If Client had underreported the number of Installed Systems by more than five percent (5%), Client will also pay Red Hat for the cost of such inspection.

Re:Enterprise Operating Systems

[negative3]

I'm pretty sure that the pricing for RHEL only allows updates and support for installation on a single PC or server if you buy one copy. If you install your purchased copy on numerous machines, you may violate the support agreement.

Of course, I freely admit that I may be wrong. Red Hat's website explains it all, I leave the legal deciphering to you. I just use Fedora instead - I can get the same server packages (I especially like RH's BIND config utility, system-config-bind) without the worry. I think I may check out CentOS 5 whenever they release it (about 2 weeks from what I understand).

Re:No waves in the pool.

[rayvd]

Well said. Coming from more of a corporate environment, I was genuinely surprised (OK, I really shouldn't have been) to read some of the comments here poking fun at Red Hat as irrelevant. In the business world, the de facto standard is still RHEL, and likely is going to continue that way. RH has been around long enough that even the suits are willing to trust its name (and to a lesser extent, SuSE)... RH is far from irrelevant, and are still the #1 private company contributing to the Linux kernel.

Re:So much to say

[rohan972]

They have a high level of commitment to Free Software (especially with Fedora).

Putting src.rpm available for public download deserves a mention also. They could be GPL compliant without doing that, yet some people whine because they enforce their trademark. Red Hat make CentOS possible ... deliberately.