|
|
|
RedHat Has Become the Evil Microsoft of the Linux World - A Rant
|
Aug 2004
I have become increasingly dismayed with RedHat, both as an operating system and as a company.
My latest round of issues started about a month ago when I attempted to install Debian onto a SuperMicro 5610T with an Intel P4SCE mainboard. The onboard Gigabit NICs are just a few versions higher on their PCI ID than previous boards and it turns out the standard e1000 and e1000pro drivers don't recognize it.
"No worries, I'll just compile the driver from the source on the CD that came with the server", I thought. Wrong. Despite being touted as "Linux Compatible!" the driver is written in such a way that it will only compile on RedHat or SuSE. This is not good as I have never cared for either of those distros (I stick to Debian for serving and Ubuntu for workstations).
Calls to my vendor generated calls from them to SuperMicro which in turn generated calls between SuperMicro and Intel. Intel's answer? "We only support RedHat and SuSE, and under the agreements we have with them we will not be supporting Linux in general or other specific flavors".
I was pissed, as was my vendor. I was stuck here because the single PCI expansion slot was taken up by a hardware-based 3Ware SATA RAID controller so I couldn't just pop a 3Com card in or such, and the server had to go live in about 6 hours because one of our custom applications that runs on Apache/Tomcat had to be demo'd on this box that evening.
So, with the clock working against me I did what I thought I would never do. I purchased RedHat Enterprise Linux 3.0 for $350 US plus tax and loaded it up. It's a little less than 1/3 the cost of Windows 2000 Server with 5 CALS, or so I thought...
It worked well enough but just in this last month over 50(!) security and errata packages have been released for it, and the easiest way to get them installed is via the RHN web interface which pushes the patches at an incredibly slow pace (I mean like 6 hours to install 20 RPMs - gah).
Looking at the patch history got me to thinking, "I wonder exactly what kind of update longevity I get for $350..."
I gave RH sales a call to find out just what kind of license I had and its length. I was absolutely stunned when I was told that it is an annual license.
So, 1 year of RedHat updates will run my company $350. Recalcualting this against Windows 2000 Server, which has a standard 3-year license, RedHat Enterprise Linux 3.0 actually costs $100 more than its Windows counterpart over a 3-year period.
Can you believe this?! I know it took me a second to fully register the implications.
What we see RedHat doing here is:
1. Writing half-assed code that's chock full of security holes and errata.
2. Forging proprietary deals with hardware vendors.
3. Charging more for their product (under a shifty licensing scheme) than their competitors, both in and out of the Linux world.
4. Not allowing cost-free updates for the life cycle of a product.
Does this sound like anyone we know?
I don't care what kind of deadlines I'm dealing with in the future. RedHat shall never touch another server I control.
May RedHat die a horrible corporate death, and may its bloated and sloppy carcass be feasted on by all its enemies.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|