[CentOS] Oracle tries to capture CentOS users

Tue Jul 24 10:04:24 UTC 2012
Stephen Harris <lists at spuddy.org>

On Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 09:39:16AM +0100, James Hogarth wrote:
> If someone wanted the 'value-added services of Oracle' they wouldn't
> be using CentOS but rather paying customers already.... and if they
> needed those services this 'free service to the community' Oracle is
> offering would not be of help... since they'd need to pay anyway and
> thus it would not be free...

If you look it from Oracle's perspective, this _should_ be a win-win.
They already need to manage a Linux distro for their vertical solutions
such as Exabyte.  It makes sense for them to base it off of RedHat 'cos
their database product is already available for that platform.

So, for them, making the OS freely available is a close-to-zero marginal
cost.  And, hey, they might pick up a few support contracts on the way.

A _user_, however, is in a different boat.  Unless Oracle build a
community support system (like these lists), users of OL are gonna be
stuck.  They're gonna have to beg for support from other areas.  You can
be sure that some of them will try to get support from us, here.

I just don't see the value proposition of OL from a user perspective.

-- 

rgds
Stephen