[CentOS-devel] geode anyone ?

[Karanbir Singh]

Will Langford wrote:
>         No, seriously.  Given the .... 'target' of CentOS as a RHEL
>         alternative, is it necessarily appropriate to attempt to support
>         such hardware ? While I can understand some energy density
>         benefits of running an LX800, I just personally don't see it as
>         fitting with the nature of CentOS.

The not-so-simple answer is - because we can. Because there are no 
support contracts signed with anyone. Because the benefits of a stable 
platform like CentOS/EL can easily be applied to areas not supported by 
upstream. Because there are people who want to run CentOS on their hardware.

So there is a lot of value add that happens within the CentOS setup that 
a lot of people in diverse areas benefit from. And all of this happens 
without the core distro being changed. eg. its possible to install 
CentOS-4 on i586 hardware and run it there, even though upstream dont 
support that. And there really *are* a lot of people using it on i586 
hardware.

For a more specific example: a teacher in Scotland[1] was told they 
could use any OS that the local authority's management software ran on. 
The school has just recieved a few dozen eeepc's preloaded with windows 
and rather than have them face issues with [spy,mal,bot,viri]ware he 
wants to get Linux onto them instead. However, this $ManagementSoftware 
that he needs to run either runs on Windows of RHEL.... Given that the 
whole reason for him to look at Linux comes from that fact that they 
cant afford the added cost of security tools on Windows, I doubt he can 
afford to pay for RHEL either. CentOS, to me, looks like a perfect fit. 
So why not ?

And there are many many more such examples, where people are using 
CentOS in diverse areas, places that would not be supported by upstream 
policy / code / contracts. Its one of the fantastic things about open 
source, and the open mentality of Red Hat. Its one of the areas that I 
dont think they get enough recognition for.

[1]: I have emailed him asking for his permission to quote his name, 
establishment and $ManagementSoftware. Not had a reply back as yet.

-- 
Karanbir Singh : http://www.karan.org/  : 2522219 at icq