On 1/8/2014 01:14, Sorin Srbu wrote: > > Redhat already has Fedora as a testing ground. True, but Fedora is a bleeding-edge Linux, while CentOS is a stable Linux. Both have their place. Red Hat knows there are pieces of the Linux market it will never be able to grab significant share in. Low-end web hosting, for example. Think about it: is it better for Red Hat to spike CentOS' wheels on the hope that people will go running to RHEL, or is it better for Red Hat to make sure the CentOS project runs smoothly, so that it can keep some kind of fingerhold on these sections of the market? I know people like conspiracy theories, but do you think the pain of getting CentOS 6 out the door did Red Hat any real good? No. All that did was make Red Hat look bad. I think that's the real reason Red Hat is doing this: they want to make sure CentOS 7 launches smoothly, and are helping out the best way they can. Another good reason for Red Hat to do this is that they now have a serious answer to Ubuntu Server and Debian. Before, they were saying, "Well, if you want no-cost Red Hattish Linux, you can go to *those* people over *there*." Now they can point to an official Red Hat sponsored offering. When/if those people want commercial support and such, they can use CentOS as an on-ramp to RHEL. This is a good thing.