[CentOS] link to "commercial support" page isn't really helpful

Robert Heller heller at deepsoft.com
Mon Jun 22 00:20:07 UTC 2009


At Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:39:05 +0100 CentOS mailing list <centos at centos.org> wrote:

> 
> On 06/22/2009 12:32 AM, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> >    again, no, i'm *not* the right person.  i'm not a centos developer
> > and, therefore, i have no idea what options the developers might be
> > looking at in terms of support channels.
> 
> lets assume for a minute, that there is no real 'endorsement' or 
> 'commercial support venue' that the CentOS developers are considering - 
> What would then be the reasons to choose CentOS ?

It is a lower-cost alternative to RHEL.  You do get most of the
benefits of RedHat's support, since CentOS gets (security) patches and
updates indirectly from RedHat (RH SRPM => CentOS volunteers => CentOS
RPM => CentOS repository).  The main difference between RHEL and CentOS
is the 'hand-holding' aspect -- you don't have 'toll-free' / 'instant'
access to a technical support crew that you would have if you paid
RedHat the annual support fee.

If you are enough of a techy yourself OR if there is someone in your
company who is enough of a techy, it could be a cost effective option
to go with CentOS rather then pay RedHat.  Many small companies have
enough random IT work to keep someone on the payroll (even if only part
time).  It is cheaper to have a local person to do in-person work (such
as installing the OS on the physical machine and doing other admin
work) and often such a person can really manage keeping the system(s)
up-to-date, particularly if there is an up-to-date repository of
updates, with only occasional need to get 'help', which is often
provided by this E-Mail list.  There are really two situations where it
might be cost effective to actually pay RedHat for RHEL support:

1) a really *small* outfit that got a system with RHEL *pre-installed*
(eg from Dell) and has no real clue about managing a Linux system.

2) a really *large* outfit that needs things like RedHat training
services and has hundreds of machines (or a few really large systems)
and has mission critical needs and wants to have access to a warm body
(or three) from RedHat who can fly in for emergencies (or be fetched
with the company Lear Jet).

For most of the companies in between, distros like CentOS 'fit'.  Many
of these companies don't need an outside commercial channel, since they
often have an IT 'staff' (even if this is a single part-time position).
I suspect that for case 1 above, there is a business opportunity looking
for an enterprising geek...  The hard part here would be finding the
*small* outfits with (or looking to get) RHEL boxes and convincing them
to 'buy local' and 'be a local hero' (eg the slogan can apply to more
than just vegatables).  I suspect most Linux geeks are not really expert
marketing experts...

> 
> 

-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
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