Blog: Pete Loshin

« Amazon to Google: Drop Dead? | Main | Oracle vs The Filing Cabinet »

Red Hat, Oracle, and Open Source Enterprise Software

With Oracle continuing its prowl for enterprise software in the form of open source-based companies, talk of Oracle selling their own Linux distribution continues. But now, Bill Snyder at TheStreet.com is suggesting that Oracle could sell Red Hat's own Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) here Oracle Seeing Red Hat.

It's true that RHEL is open source, and there's no legal reason that Oracle couldn't compile the underlying source code and then sell support for it. Others, like CentOS have been doing exactly that for years, distributing the binaries at no cost; still others like Pie Box Linux offer RHEL binary-compatible distributions for a fee.

The big questions:

• Will Oracle have the nerve to repackage Red Hat's flagship product?


• Does Red Hat support provide sufficient added value to retain their customer base?


• Would Oracle's entry into the RHEL-compatible Linux business trigger a Red Hat move to a less open license?

I'll have more to say about open source enterprise quality software and support over the next few weeks, so stay tuned, and let me know what you think!

Share: