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IBM is set to offer RHEL (RedHat Enterprise Linux) for free
MechanicWeb
Member, Patron Provider
Free RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) instead of CentOS!
https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/new-year-new-red-hat-enterprise-linux-programs-easier-ways-access-rhel
the Individual Developer subscription for RHEL can be used in production for up to 16 systems.
...You need only to sign in with a free Red Hat account (or via single sign-on through GitHub, Twitter, Facebook, and other accounts) to download RHEL and receive updates. Nothing else is required.
...The updated Individual Developer subscription for RHEL will be available no later than February 1, 2021.
Sounds like a damage control after ending CentOS for CentOS Stream and targeted towards harming the newly launched RHEL fork projects.
Comments
Are you sure about that? That's the first time I've heard of it
https://www.lowendtalk.com/discussion/169438/rhel-is-now-free-for-up-to-16-production-servers#latest
https://www.lowendtalk.com/discussion/169436/rhel-is-now-free-for-up-to-16-production-servers
Perhaps merge all similar threads together? admins?
Apparently they have said you won't need anything else but a free account. And also, it seems like a damage control, so why not?
You are right, it is a damage control and they try to stop people to use AlmaLinux & RockyLinux in the future.
Isn't twice enough already?
https://www.lowendtalk.com/discussion/169436/rhel-is-now-free-for-up-to-16-production-servers
https://www.lowendtalk.com/discussion/169438/rhel-is-now-free-for-up-to-16-production-servers
RockyLinux seems to be a risky project. They do not have the money needed to run the project. Whether it is a free project or not, devs need to earn money when they spend time on something. For the same reason, CentOS was eventually sold to IBM and now failed.
AlmaLinux has that funding. Besides, CloudLinux has been forking RHEL/CentOS for years now for their CloudLinux. They have more prospects to succeed.
But it would also mean you are handing over more control over your server to them. They already have CloudLinux, KernelCare, and Immunify360 - all the best software in their respective fields. The same way cPanel has Plesk, and WHMCS.
I do not have anything against CloudLinux, in fact, they have saved many 'lives' with CloudLinux. But it is difficult for a company to resist the urges of market dominance.
You become dependent on more products from a single company, you are essentially handing over more control over you to them.
Doesn't seem like damage control at all. More like as if that was the plan all the time and they just took the chance to maximize medial attention while doing that by not immediately announcing that there also will be a free version. By pushing you into those "free" RHEL accounts they took away a significant part of the barrier to actually upgrade to the paid version.
I can blame them for discontinuing CentOS, but a commercial company will always try to make more sales, specially when they dominate the industry. That's a clever and cruel way to drive sales, if that was their intention, and they are not the first company to repeat that.
At the same time, free RHEL has all the motivations behind it to stay free, don't you think?
Yes, it actually seems like a very smart move to lure you intro trying their commercial product by providing a freemium model.
Especially when they don‘t even pressure you into upgrading (what seems to be what they are going to do, but while still making it very easy to upgrade): many bloggers/forum users/etc will just use their free version and write about how great it is. At the same time commercial and semi-commercial users (maybe because they found many tutorials using it) will use it and consider whether the paid support is worth it. Seems like a very smart decision for them.
I do not trust either IBM (any more) nor RedHat. That RedHat thing is not an acceptable full replacement for CentOS, among other reasons because one needs to have an account and play in a walled garden.
Nor do I trust CloudLinux which at the end of the day is just another company too.
If I used CentOS I'd go with RockyLinux. If every CentOS fan supports them with just $10 they can do it and offer some support.
Don't. Trust. IBM.
Just don't.
Let's praise them for being smart then
You have a point. This is what worries me, too.
This seem like a sensible decision, but a less safe bet compared to free RHEL. RHEL is stable, and they have the funding and motivations to keep it free.
But RockyLinux doesn't seem to have the most important part of a project - funding. This is what happened to CentOs before IBM bought them.
You see the irony here? Your business depends on the OS. First, you need it to be stable and well maintained.
This is why I think perhaps free RHEL is the safer option for end users who have a small fleet of servers.
Depends.
Finally, again, because it's an IMPORTANT point: One can have open source software and pay the developers and maintainers. And frankly, people who nonchalantly expect lots of works and know-how for free, especially when they build their business on top, are simply cheap a__holes who deserve the pain.
Even if you are a really small provider with just say 500 VPS you can and should afford to send $100 per year (far less than 10 cents per VPS and month) to e.g. RockyLinux on which you build your business.
(Well noted, this is NOT an attack on you! It's merely an expression of my anger at the cheapos who have the chutzpah to expect free software, free support, free everything under the disguise of foss ... while they themselves wouldn't offer their stuff for free, quite the contrary)
Wow. This is one to take the breath away! IBM turning the clock back?
Without standing in either corner, I'm totally unbiased at this point in time and until I see what develops, this does take us back to an earlier era. "Big Blue" as IBM used to be known, with admiration by some and enmity with others, was the dominant computer business worldwide by a very large margin. It was challenged towards the end of its dominance to an extent by DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) with first its Vax then the offspin from that the PDP, a tape driven mini computer. There were various other challengers but IBM had the financial muscle to research and develop so it felt no great worries there.
Then it made its great historical error. It allowed Gates to convince it to allow a single company, whose technology at the time was way behind the curve, to market an operating system for its new "microcomputer", the PC we all know and love, at least those of us who can remember beyond the mobile phone. That software was, and still is in my opinion, substandard. But the marketing was sublime and exceptionally successful.
The important point about all this is that IBM considered software as a gateway to selling hardware. It gave the stuff away.
Between that fateful day and the present time, IBM successfully reinvented itself as an IT services giant.
Now, here it is offering software, leading edge software at that, gratis to all comers. Once again. Ater a greater than 30 year gap.
I strongly suspect that IBM has a marketing end in sight. It will be a big one. One that can satisfy very powerful shareholders. And I somehow doubt smaller scale hosts and developers have anything to fear from this development. Even the larger outfits may well have something to look forward to. They probably have the perspicacity to realise how valuable collaborative attitudes from the front lines will be to them and invoke their support rather than their exploitation.
Just my gut feel. IBM have been involved in some very forward looking conversations recently. I could be wrong. But I'll be keeping an eye on developments with an open mind.
Has @deank sued IBM yet?
I am happy for you. You can't participate in something you don't see
All a bit dramatic, no?
CentOS was unconditionally gratis. IBM discontinued that. People began to consider other options. Some weeks later, IBM makes RHEL conditionally gratis. So we go from unconditionally gratis to conditionally gratis. Fine (or not fine), but it's hard to see why ordinary people should be cheering on the sidelines.
Thank you for your insights. I understand what you mean.
Let's just say that people do not want to fix something unless it is broken, or they are just lazy.
Only if that was true I wouldn't worry about their funding!
You speak my mind. I am also unbias at this point as it is too early to call anything. IBM might be cooking something, too.
No doubt dropping CentOS was bad. CentOS Stream isn't CentOS. If anything, it is a beta of RHELL while CentOS was the downstream of RHEL.
But IBM is a commercial business, so their best interests would be gaining commercial benefits.
I feel like it is a good thing that RockyLinux and AlmaLinux is coming with a 1:1 RHEL fork. There would be more competition now among free RHEL, AlmaLinux and RockyLinux vs there was only CentOS in the past.
IBM decision is reversible, so definitely not trust them as one way they will do more sales offer 16 servers free license today and at some later point reverse the decision to charge all these punters license fees, nice try!
If one wants a conditionally gratis RHEL clone, there's Oracle Linux, which has been around for 14 years.
Not quite true. Until CentOS 8, there was also Scientific Linux. (And there's still the lesser known Springdale Linux.)
People got to stop messing Red Hat with IBM. Clearly, this decision has nothing to do with IBM because IBM's clients are large corporates who:
So, basically, whatever Red Hat plans for RHEL/CentOS, won't affect IBM's business.
May be damage control, or it could be a way to double dip.
They want all your customers data -- effectively each of your customers can sign-up for their own account with 16 server licenses -- this has the side effect of them now being able to collect personal / company data about your users where previously it was actually 'free', as in 'privacy' not as in 'no monetary cost'.
The saying, "If you are not paying for the product, you are the product." only becomes more true with this new "Free 16 licenses".
Sad part is, just like those whom use Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms whom are already happy to give away their personal / private information for free, this probably won't effect their decision making as much as it really should.
Your information has a value, for example, if you are a small hosting business it is also an easy way for them to track for larger customers and poach them, as I am sure as they see some business hit 16+ servers, they start to become big enough for them to deal with directly. So, I am sure this will result in a lot of mid-sized players that used to purchase server management from a third part just going with Red Hat directly as they continue to sweeten the deal for those who jump on board. One of the end result may likely be slowly encroaching on the mid-range market until they wipe out a bunch of small / medium businesses, to then take on their customers. This is something they couldn't do with CentOS because it was actually free, as in "privacy".
my 2 cents.
Cheers!