Red Hat unlikely to be standard for enterprise Linux in future, says AlmaLinux chief (UPDATED)
benny Vasquez told iTWire in an interview: "I see Enterprise Linux shifting into something new and exciting, and I see a shift away from anyone using Red Hat as *the* standard to a much more diversified enterprise Linux ecosystem. We are already seeing new and exciting opportunities that haven’t existed while the 'standard' was being a downstream-rebuild of RHEL."
There have been plenty of ructions in the open source and free software communities after Red Hat announced on 21 June that it would be making the source of Red Hat Enterprise Linux available only to paying customers.
Vasquez said while there was no direct communication about this from Red Hat, "there were certainly signs of a shift at least a few weeks ahead of time".
UPDATE
Red Hat's side:
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The Future Of Open-Source Enterprise Linux And Community Collaboration
Red Hat, one of the longtime leaders in the open-source space, made some key announcements, which I got the chance to discuss with Gunnar Hellekson, the GM of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux business recently, that the company is changing how it approaches the open-source community as it relates to its main source of revenue, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). RHEL is an open-source operating system that thousands of organizations, institutions, and government departments use globally.
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CentOS has gained importance by providing a free alternative for testing solutions against Red Hat Enterprise Linux, without requiring a support agreement. CentOS became an integral part of the Red Hat ecosystem, even for those who had purchased Red Hat licenses.
Also here:
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AlmaLinux leader says Red Hat code crackdown isn’t a threat [Ed: The original "FUD" company was IBM. We're back to it and this publisher takes "sponsorship" money from Red Hat, so it cannot be objective.]
Red Hat Inc.’s announcement last month that it would impose restrictions on the availability of source code for its Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system created a stir among developers and Linux users who have relied on no-cost alternatives AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux, which were built to be “bug-for-bug compatible” with RHEL.
Late coverage related to this:
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OpenELA group pushes for bug compatibility with RHEL
A dramatic disagreement in the enterprise Linux community has some distributions scrambling to keep their code compatible with Red Hat, as the acknowledged biggest player in the space cracks down on source code distribution.
The core issue is the existence of several “downstream” Linux distributions based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Those distributions were historically based on CentOS, a free RHEL clone developed originally for the purposes of testing and development. The downstream distributions in question, however, are supported by companies like CIQ and Oracle – which sell support services for their “clones” of RHEL. This has led to a long-running tension between those companies and Red Hat, whose supporters argue that the downstream companies are simply repackaging Red Hat’s work for profit, while detractors say that Red Hat is violating the sprit – if not, technically, the law – of open source.