Community Linux Distros On the Rise
Category Administration IBM/Lotus Domino Linux
Jay Lyman, 451 Group analyst, has noticed that "Companies are increasingly choosing free community-driven Linux distributions instead of commercial offerings with conventional support options." Naturally, I agree. Linux licensing needs to be more flexible to compete with a Microsoft-free line-up.
Recently, I found myself explaining to upper management that Ubuntu, CentOS, et al. aren't really "free-os." But I was struggling for terminology that defined the uniqueness of these Linux distributions. When Lymon discusses Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu and CentOS, he uses the term "community" distros.
So, I'm going to try to slip in "community Linux" instead of "free OS" where I can, and maybe the picture will get clearer.
Technorati Tags: Jay Lyman, Ubuntu, Linux
Jay Lyman, 451 Group analyst, has noticed that "Companies are increasingly choosing free community-driven Linux distributions instead of commercial offerings with conventional support options." Naturally, I agree. Linux licensing needs to be more flexible to compete with a Microsoft-free line-up.
Recently, I found myself explaining to upper management that Ubuntu, CentOS, et al. aren't really "free-os." But I was struggling for terminology that defined the uniqueness of these Linux distributions. When Lymon discusses Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu and CentOS, he uses the term "community" distros.
To demonstrate the symbiotic relationship between the commercial and community Linux ecosystems, Lyman explained how a school district rolled out Fedora on a handful of machines for a small project and ended up liking it so much that they adopted Red Hat's enterprise Linux distribution across the entire district. In that scenario, small-scale usage of the free Fedora distro translated directly into a major commercial support contract for Red Hat. In turn, Red Hat invests its resources in Linux improvements that trickle back down into Fedora.
So, I'm going to try to slip in "community Linux" instead of "free OS" where I can, and maybe the picture will get clearer.
Technorati Tags: Jay Lyman, Ubuntu, Linux
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