Red Hat Adopts CentOS
Super-clone CentOS Linux gets beamed up to the mother ship.
Red Hat has announced it is joining forces with the community-based CentOS project. CentOS has built a huge following and a vast user base through its popular Linux distribution, which is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) source code.
The alliance marks the end of a tense, and sometimes litigious, standoff between Red Hat and CentOS. Red Hat charges real money for a RHEL license, and the presence of no-cost clone systems, offering virtual identical functionality without support or hardware certifications, threatened the delicate balance of Red Hat's complex business model. Consequently, CentOS was not allowed to mention that it got its source code from Red Hat. The new detente is an acknowledgment that the enterprise space is getting too complicated for a single company, and independent projects such as OpenStack, KVM, and Docker present integration challenges that exceed the capabilities of Red Hat's conventional development model.
For the past 10 years, Red Hat has used the Fedora community distro to test new technologies and innovations that would one day find their way into RHEL. However, the experimental nature of Fedora, and the lack of a long-term support option, means Fedora has never been a tool of choice for enterprise customers. Enterprise users who want Red Hat know-how without Red Hat licensing fees have therefore gravitated to community clones like CentOS.
Recently, this community enterprise space has been a focal point for innovation, and Red Hat is teaming with CentOS to bring an enterprise-ready free Linux into its distribution portfolio. According to Red Hat, Fedora will continue as an innovation engine and test bed for new technologies. RHEL will continue to provide comprehensive support for fee-based corporate customers. CentOS will fill the missing space in between for enterprise users who like Red Hat but are not are interested RHEL-style comprehensive support contracts. Red Hat, on the other hand, will be in a better position to harnass the power of CentOS community development and bug hunting when integrating technologies such as OpenStack with RHEL and other enterprise products.
Issue 245/2021
Buy this issue as a PDF
News
-
GNOME 40 Beta has been Released
Anyone looking to test the beta for the upcoming GNOME 40 release can now do so.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 has Arrived
The latest stable version of OpenMandriva has been released and offers the newest KDE desktop and ARM support.
-
Thunderbird 78 is being ported to Ubuntu 20.04
The Ubuntu developers have made the decision to port the latest release of Thunderbird to the LTS version of the platform.
-
Elementary OS is Bringing Multi-Touch Gestures to the OS
User-friendly Linux distribution, elementary OS, is working to make using the fan-favorite platform even better for laptops.
-
Decade-Old Sudo Flaw Discovered
A vulnerability has been discovered in the Linux sudo command that’s been hiding in plain sight.
-
Another New Linux Laptop has Arrived
Slimbook has released a monster of a Linux gaming laptop.
-
Mozilla VPN Now Available for Linux
The promised subscription-based VPN service from Mozilla is now available for the Linux platform.
-
Wayland and New App Menu Coming to KDE
The 2021 roadmap for the KDE desktop environment includes some exciting features and improvements.
-
Deepin 20.1 has Arrived
Debian-based Deepin 20.1 has been released with some interesting new features.
-
CloudLinux Commits Over 1 Million Dollars to CentOS Replacement
An open source, drop-in replacement for CentOS is on its way.