Well, you get a better product for that money but you're right it's not exactly cheap. I think it's _fair_ but i agree it might be out of range for some situations.
I don't claim it's highway robbery. I believe it is similar to the real cost of using Windows, and that they (as an underdog) need to be still somewhat under the Windows price in order to gain market share.
You know that RedHat is bound by economic realities. I'm sure if there is a way to provide the services you want and turn a profit they will find a way to provide them. What exactly is it that Fedora does _not_ provide that you are willing to pay RedHat $60.00/server/year to get?
Fedora tells me that bugs and security fixes will be issues as quickly as is feasible or practical for the developer of each product. RHL tells me that Red Hat, Inc. incurs a responsibility to me to ensure that such security fixes are issued as quickly as _possible_ (subtle but important difference). This is worth money to me.
However, there is the flip side to it: I really do WANT to give Red Hat money. I am happy with what they provide, I am grateful for the quality of their work, and I believe that work deserves a reward. Just give me my SS (perhaps equivalent to ES but with "just the updates" and RHN but no phone support at all) for $99/year, and this will give me the excuse I need to sign up for five or six licenses. If the cost is $180 or $0, then how do I tell the corporations I work with (who can't do $180) that they should donate money to Red Hat just for being nice people? That check will never leave Accounting; I need a product or service I can buy.
Ed mentioned that perhaps such an offering is on the horizon. I'm struggling to imagine how they will differentiate it from Fedora and Enterprise.
How's this for a thought? Make SS available for $99/year. Include everything a small business server needs (which I think makes it equivalent to ES), offer automatic updates via RHN, installed package tracking, plus a few (three, five?) incidents of WEB-ONLY support per year. No phone support at all.
I think this would be a good product for RH, and I _know_ I could then put at least $500/year into their pocket, if not more. How many thousands of people like me are out there? Care to help me make a little web page to count votes?
-- Rodolfo J. Paiz [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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