[CentOS] New to CentOS, is this a safe bet?

On 5/7/05, Preston Crawford <me at prestoncrawford.com> wrote:
> ... 
> 
> So I'm considering CentOS based on some articles I've read lately, as my
> solution. What I'm looking for is a good solid distro that COULD do some
> multi-media if I go hunt down the RPMs or if there's a YUM repository
> (I'm familiar with Fedora), but mostly a solid distro where I can do
> Java work daily and where the distro is memory efficient, solid and
> stable. And also where if I decide to run it for a year or more I won't
> be forced to upgrade. Now I believe CentOS promises all of these. My
> concerns, in terms of it being a safe bet are...
> 
> #1 - Is there any reason to fear Red Hat bringing the hammer down and
> thus ruining the party? I'd love to see an FAQ or something to the
> effect that legally there's no way for Red Hat to block what CentOS is
> doing.
> 
> #2 - Is the community strong? I'm new to the community and when I look
> on distrowatch it's way down the list. But is this accurate or is CentOS
> picking up steam? I get the feeling it's picking up steam. The reason
> this is important is because I'd hate to pick it only to watch it wither
> and have to go distro-hopping again. Once again, looking for stability.
> 

Hi Preston,

I can attest to the fact that the CentOS community is strong.  One way
to gauge that is based on this list.  It's basically one of the best
lists I have every been on.  Not only do people take time to answer
questions with good technical advice and without being obnoxious jerks
(like you get on some lists I'll refrain from mentioning!), but you
also get very active input from all the key CentOS guys you see listed
under "Information", "The CentOS Team" in the menu bar at
http://www.centos.org.  I have learned a lot watching this list; you
get tons of input from some really sharp folks (I thought about trying
to list some names to express my gratitude, but there are too many!).

Another way to gauge the strength of the community is with security
updates -- the CentOS crew is amazing!  They get stuff out their in
hours (or sometimes even quicker).

I certainly wouldn't call myself a distro expert (I worked with
Slackware back in the old days, pretty much every RedHat release since
5.X-ish, and a little bit of debian), but I have been extremely happy
with CentOS.

I also can't comment on the multi-media aspects, but our primary
application is a server-side Java J2EE application running under
Tomcat and things have worked great on CentOS.  There have been some
good Java discussions on the list.

Let us know what you decide.

Take care,
Kennedy

>
> Any responses that can help me decide are appreciated. Thanks.
> 
> Preston
> 
>