Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Red Hat Exchange Is Dead

Posted by timothy on from the milk-for-free dept.

darthcamaro writes "In 2007, Red Hat launched the Red Hat Exchange (RHX) — an appstore, if you will, of open source partner applications sold from a Red Hat website. Sounds like a good idea, right? While an appstore works well for Apple, turns out that an appstore for open source (from a Linux vendor) isn't such a good idea. 'When we came out with RHX we were hoping for more ambitious adoption but we've learned that selling third-party applications via a marketplace is challenging,' Mike Evans, Red Hat's vice president of corporate development said. 'When you've got marketplaces that offer buyers the choice of buying in the marketplace or directly from the vendor themselves, which is what our marketplace was, there isn't a real efficient marketplace.'"

6 of 88 comments (clear)

  1. Best Guess by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Pricing on enterprise software is somewhat variable depending on purchase quantities. Red Hat probably had everything at list price or maybe slightly below. In addition to not being a good deal for most of their customers, they probably also ticked off the sales guys that were earring fat commissions on the software sales. So basically they pissed off their customers and their partners. Which, my business skilled friends tell me, is not a good way to make money.

  2. Yes, currently running in 2D... by mrmeval · · Score: 1, Informative

    I am running Fedora 11 and did a normal update. Now I can't get into X. I had to rip out all the ATI drives I'm getting from rpmfusion because they did an update but neglected to provide the proprietary ATI drivers. This is an ongoing problem with them being stupid gits. Yes I've turned them off and I'll run 2D until I can scam a college license for windows 7

    Tell me what good is open source if it doesn't work? If audio stutters and dies? If I cannot depend that long term features will not be ripped out in a fury of religious (emacs) righteousness?

    I don't want to fuck with fixing shit anymore I have shit to do.

    --
    I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
    1. Re:Yes, currently running in 2D... by turbidostato · · Score: 1, Informative

      "I am running Fedora 11 and did a normal update. Now I can't get into X."

      Your problem. Fedora is and always has been Red Hat's test bed. When you use a testing system for anything you depend on, whatever happens is your own fault.

      "I had to rip out all the ATI drives I'm getting from rpmfusion"

      So you were not only using a test OS but you even merged it with third party providers and you still are surprised because things breaks.

      "Tell me what good is open source if it doesn't work?"

      Tell me what good is using a screwdriver for a hammer. I use Fedora for what it's meant: technology preview, and it has always worked for me within expectations. Fedora works when used as intended. Your problem if you try to use it "out of specs".

      "I don't want to fuck with fixing shit anymore I have shit to do."

      Me too. And you know what? My production systems don't need me wasting time "fixing shit" -of course, I don't use technology preview systems on production environments. Maybe it's because I know my shit better than you. That's again... your problem, not Fedora's.

  3. Re:A Linux 'app store' is like a church of atheism by selven · · Score: 2, Informative

    The Debian repositories are an app store, and I don't see FOSS people avoiding those.

  4. Re:Maybe... by BrokenHalo · · Score: 2, Informative

    Exactly. That's why I refuse to use a phone for anything but making calls

    In any case, one can't count on your contact having a phone (or telco plan) capable of doing anything more than calls or SMS. Lots of people have basic phones, but possibly even more have comparatively "smart" devices that are (a) connected to a plan that doesn't offer more than a typically flaky GPRS conection or (b) connected to an owner that doesn't know what to to with anything other than a phone call.

  5. Re:A Linux 'app store' is like a church of atheism by selven · · Score: 2, Informative

    What is this difference? Most repositories have a filtering process (otherwise any malware author could get something in there, removing its security advantage). The only one I see is the presence of money, but an app store is still called an app store even if it offers free stuff.