Red Hat pulls plugs on Red Hat Linux product line
Posted by Daniel Fleshbourne on 04 November 2003 - 13:31 · 43 comments & 1387 views
About the Author
Full name: Daniel Fleshbourne
Forum name: Daniel
Contact: via forum PM
Submissions: Normal · Headline
Full name: Daniel Fleshbourne
Forum name: Daniel
Contact: via forum PM
Submissions: Normal · Headline
Slashdot It!
Submit to reddit
Submit to blinklist
Bookmark on del.icio.us
Add to furl
Share on Facebook
Add to Windows Live
Add to Google- Advertisement
-
-
(2 replies)
#1 Posted by JaggedFlame on 04 Nov 2003 - 13:41
- Uh... ouch.
-
#1.1 Posted by Tews on 04 Nov 2003 - 14:51
QUOTE The move is a sensible one from the company's point of view because it provides a clear answer to the 'what do we do about the bit that doesn't work' question
What a novel way to solve a problem... ditch the entire line... alienate the largest customer base in the linux community.... Bill Gates may be a greedy sob but he knows which side of the bread the butter's on... LOL
-
(3 replies)
#2 Posted by longwilli on 04 Nov 2003 - 13:42
- wow....now where does linux go in turms of taking the 'desktop' crown from microsoft red hat where a big big player in linux desktop distros
-
#2.1 Posted by Jon on 04 Nov 2003 - 13:50
- It never had a chance. Linux is a wonderful server OS, but happy home users / workers require consistancy and decent support. An open source community will never be able to provide the same level of consistancy and standards as MS. In my opinion
-
#2.2 Posted by Jugalator on 04 Nov 2003 - 14:13
QUOTE wow....now where does linux go in turms of taking the 'desktop' crown from microsoft red hat where a big big player in linux desktop distros
Red Hat Linux was never a Linux distro for desktop users IMHO. Well, maybe they tried several years ago, but since then it has become an obvious Linux distro for servers.
This is just one step in the logical direction for Red Hat, although it came with short notice.
Look for Mandrake or (ick!) Lindows for distros that actually aims to be user friendly for the desktop market.-
#2.3 Posted by longwilli on 04 Nov 2003 - 14:48
- i dont use rat hat i use mandrake but bluecurve was an attempt to make rat hat more user friendly i know of many users who use it not as a server (although i agree that it is an good distro for that) but as a desktop distro not to mention smaller distros that use rat hat
Last edited by 17868 on 04 Nov 2003 - 14:54
-
#3 Posted by leebobs on 04 Nov 2003 - 13:50
- A big downer seeing as Red Hat won't release a kernel 2.6.x based version untill well into 2004!
-
#4 Posted by oblique on 04 Nov 2003 - 13:51
- I just upgraded from 7.0 to 9 too... can't believe the are completly throwing everything out the window in just 5 months..
-
(1 reply)
#5 Posted by JadeWolf324 on 04 Nov 2003 - 14:07
- um...what exactly did they do other than redhat linux? but really, this isnt sucha big deal, there are plenty of other good distros...so not really too scared.
-
(3 replies)
#6 Posted by cappuchok on 04 Nov 2003 - 14:08
- So what will Red Hat do now, considering Red Hat Linux is their only product (AFAIK, anyway)?
Still, I'll survive on Slackware... 
Last edited by 21337 on 04 Nov 2003 - 14:15 -
#6.1 Posted by JaggedFlame on 04 Nov 2003 - 14:13
- Read the article?
QUOTE Red Hat is now about Red Hat Enterprise and... Fedora. -
#6.2 Posted by werejag on 04 Nov 2003 - 14:46
- Fedora is the free, development strand of the Red Hat offering, "sponsored" by Red Hat but intended to be out there in the community with support almost entirely from the community. It will have a release cycle of two to three a year, and Szulik puts it more bracingly than that still. "Anyone can put a package in so long as they maintain it," and fixes will "just roll forward to the next version," so it'll ship when it's done and keep shipping. It is therefore being pitched as a fast-moving, cutting edge line that's in continued development, and in that sense could be seen as a possible techie heaven.
-
#6.3 Posted by SomeDork on 05 Nov 2003 - 06:53
- Or techie hell. With no official patch mgmt or SLA in Fedora, it's reduced to an even less-than-compelling corporate offering.
Scratch that, it means that a FREE offering of Redhat Linux is now less-than-compelling. Interesting times... there really is no business model in "free".
Last edited by 24542 on 05 Nov 2003 - 06:59
-
#7 Posted by mh508 on 04 Nov 2003 - 14:11
- sad
-
#8 Posted by g33kb0y on 04 Nov 2003 - 14:13
- "Uh, ya...instead of, uh, working on it, we're just gonna...ya know...get rid of it. Yup. Problem solved." Isn't that kind of like dropping the car off at the dump when it just needs a tune up?
Oh ya, forgot to say that at least they're not axing the Enterprise Line. I've never gotten to work with it myself, but my co-worker has been very impressed with it.
-
#9 Posted by Gary_Player on 04 Nov 2003 - 14:15
- Woa there...wtf?!?!?!
-
(3 replies)
#10 Posted by werejag on 04 Nov 2003 - 14:45
- .
-
(2 replies)
#11 Posted by kal-ky on 04 Nov 2003 - 15:19
- ahumm cough cough ... Fedora
-
#11.1 Posted by Avicus on 04 Nov 2003 - 16:15
- Yes, but how good is Fedora? Has anyone used it much? Does it hold up to RH9?
-
#11.2 Posted by quintesse on 04 Nov 2003 - 16:29
- I've been using nothing but fedora (and oter repositories) since I discovered that APT worked for RedHat as well! Ditched their own updater (up2date or something like that) immediately because this gave me access to a LOT more software packages and ridiculously easy installs and updates (yes Debian and other distro users were used to this, but it was still RPMs for most RedHat users
).
NB: Fedora _is_ RH 7-9, it contains all the RH built packages and more. So no use trying to compare.
-
#12 Posted by Trix on 04 Nov 2003 - 15:51
- wa? does this mean theres no more RH linux ?!?!?!?
-
#13 Posted by Grappa on 04 Nov 2003 - 16:44
- If you go to the Fedora site above it says RH linux is being rolled into Fedora.
G
-
(1 reply)
#14 Posted by Ely on 04 Nov 2003 - 17:06
- Does this Fedora contains Blue Curve?
-
(1 reply)
#15 Posted by Sushubh on 04 Nov 2003 - 18:00
- the time i was thinking of shifting to linux this happens...
-
#15.1 Posted by CrimandEvil on 04 Nov 2003 - 21:57
- Well theres always Mandrake, Suse, or Slackware. Oh you could try fedora
Last edited by 36915 on 04 Nov 2003 - 22:03
-
#16 Posted by BigBoy on 04 Nov 2003 - 18:03
- Wow.
Ending support so soon?
Boy - they got the nerve. Or actually - let me rephrase that - they are seriously NOT ready for the enterprise. Talk about short support lifecycle - 5 months??
How are they expecting people to take them seriously after they pull this kind of stunt on them?
I can already hear it:
"Ah, no - really, we will never do that again, Mr. Enterprise customer... I mean - we even have the word 'Enterprise' in our new product - we will never drop support with 3-5 month notice - promise!"
-
#17 Posted by slapnuts_ox on 04 Nov 2003 - 18:23
- Fedora 1.0 is going to be released later this week. Im running Fedora 0.95 and think its good. Redhat makes 90% of their profits from their server market so they just are focusing on what they do best and letting the community help drive the core which is fedora.
-
#18 Posted by tech_8356 on 04 Nov 2003 - 18:26
- Amazing......Red Hat and SuSE down thje drain in thje same week.....I'll bet ol' Ballmer is about ready to have a stroke....
-
#19 Posted by nookadum on 04 Nov 2003 - 18:29
- Well Red Hat wasn't really a "desktop"-flavoured Linux distro anyway. Unless you count the BlueCurve theme.
-
#20 Posted by Rudy on 04 Nov 2003 - 18:35
- Fedora is MUCH better anywayz
-
#21 Posted by raid517 on 04 Nov 2003 - 19:21
- I believe Fedora is simply the core Red Hat distro that has now been farmed out to the open source community... That is to say that Red Hat are no longer interested in maintaining internal developers for their desktop Linux editions. The plan I assume is to see what the wider community do with the distribution and if any beneficial changes are made, they will be fed directly back into Red Hat Linux Enterprise. Open Sourrce and open development are not always the same thing.
On a side note, Fedora core 1 will be released this week, so this is really a non issue. It is an evolution which in the longer term will be to the benefit of everyone.
Q
Last edited by 13486 on 04 Nov 2003 - 20:43
-
#22 Posted by trvmyr on 04 Nov 2003 - 19:41
- All I have to say is this really sucks and damn.
-
(3 replies)
#23 Posted by crazyturn2 on 04 Nov 2003 - 21:03
- when was the last time you belived something you read from the register web site?
amazing how no one else is reporting this but them, no cnn, reuters, etc.. no one.
sounds like bullcrap if you ask me. -
#23.1 Posted by blackice912 on 04 Nov 2003 - 21:27
QUOTE (#23.0) when was the last time you belived something you read from the register web site?
amazing how no one else is reporting this but them, no cnn, reuters, etc.. no one.
sounds like bullcrap if you ask me.
Right, you just keep thinking that way.
-
#23.2 Posted by crazyturn2 on 04 Nov 2003 - 22:53
- well come on & prove me wrong, show me this news elsewhere..
-
#23.3 Posted by mezron on 05 Nov 2003 - 02:27
- Everyone that was a RedHat Network registered user got the email directly from RedHat today. It's true, although it's not the end of the world crisis that some people here are making it out to be. Basically RedHat is handing off the freely downloadable version to The Fedora Project to be a community supported product. Kinda like what Debian does. If you're willing to pay for licensing and support then RedHat Enterprise Linux is what you'll want.
-
#24 Posted by antareus on 05 Nov 2003 - 04:12
- So now everyone's mad that RH had the balls to come out and say "You know what, we really don't make any money off desktop users, Linux on the desktop is problematic sometimes."
They are smart, they shouldn't hemorrage money just to remain a poster child of open source software. This issue of making money off a free product will continue to haunt other ventures who attempt it. Red Hat had a ton of visibility.
There is Fedora anyway. No one has any right to complain.
Red Hat maintenance and support for Red Hat linux 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 and 8.0 will end as of 31st December 2003, and for Red Hat 9 as of 30th April 2004. "Red Hat does not plan to release another product in the Red Hat Linux line," says the 'you're fired' email sent out to The Register's Red Hat Network account yesterday. Red Hat Linux channels will remain open for six months after the product's end of life date, but no new errata will be posted after EOL, and no Red Hat Network support accounts could be bought or renewed as of yesterday. So it's very dead, very soon, and Red Hat is now about Red Hat Enterprise and... Fedora.
The move is a sensible one from the company's point of view because it provides a clear answer to the 'what do we do about the bit that doesn't work' question. It could perhaps have been done a little less brutally, and people who bought RH8 or RH9 both surely have good reason to be sore about how swiftly the support is vapourising (RH8 in particular - a year ago this looked like a product line with a future and a roadmap), but there really was no easy way to do it. A more honest way, probably...
What's New in This Release:
· Bugfix: Buddy List window will now remember it's previous size when you dock it.
· Bugfix: MyIM will read your preferences before the buddy list is resized to determine how you want it shown. (prevents all toolbars and buttons from being nuked until you manually refresh it)
· Added: Ability to hide/show the Buddy List menu, and/or the Online and List Setup tabs.
· Added: Mouseover effects for MyIM and CloneIM buttons. Redesigned CloneIM button.
· Added: Resized ComboBox on Sign On window, so more than 3 names show at once.
· Added: MyIM now creates an entry in the Add/Remove Programs, and can be reinstalled/uninstalled from there.
· Various other bugfixes