Fedora
Dave Hull
dphull at insipid.com
Mon Nov 10 17:29:05 CST 2003
On Mon, 10 Nov 2003, Charles Steinkuehler wrote:
> Apparently, no one runs any php/mysql websites on RedHat systems,
That's rich. ;)
> or maybe they just like alienating their customer base (they've sure been
> annoying me!
I completely agree. I started using Linux in the early '90s back when
Slackware was about the only thing available. I toyed with other distros when
someone in my office said, "Try Red Hat." I did and have never really used
anything else for the last 7 years or so.
I don't understand what Red Hat is doing with their latest move. Do they not
understand the concepts of "branding" and "goodwill?" When I first read the
announcement that they where cancelling the freely avialable Red Hat
distribution, I started thinking about what distro I would switch to though I
am a paying subscriber to RHN.
Two days later, I rec'd an announcement from RH about Fedora and that it would
be freely available via download and that it would be the basis of future
RHWS, RHAS, RHES or whatever they are calling them, releases.
Huh? Let me get this straight, RH is pulling the plug on their well known,
well respected self-titled (there's branding and goodwill) distro and telling
people they are going to have to pay up if they want to continue using Red
Hat.
However, they are basically going to continue providing a free version, but
they are essentially changing the name to Fedora (I realize the Fedora project
has been around for a while and that RH bought/acquired them not so long ago).
So now when my boss comes by and says, "What's on that box?" I'll say,
"Fedora," and he's going to look at me in a strange way and wonder what the
hell that is (a loss of branding and goodwill).
He might ask, "Not using Red Hat anymore?" Then I'm going to have to explain
everything to him, blah, blah, blah. You know what this situation reminds me
of? New Coke.
--
Dave Hull
http://insipid.com
Fedora is to Red Hat what New Coke was to Coca-Cola, a multi-million dollar
mistake.
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