Is linux free 5043

HalcyonWild

Nothing in the GPL says that Redhat has to let you have access to their ISOs. We have servers here that run Redhat Enterprise and since we have the GPL'ed binaries, they have to give us access to the source also. If you've never received software from Redhat then they're under no obligation to give you the source.

You run only Solaris. Have you managed to get a complete (and legal) Solaris system running from free downloaded ISO's? Since this is your company, personal download licenses don't count. A substantial amount of the software provided on the Solaris distributions I have is GPL code and Sun is going the open-source route on solaris. Why aren't you complaining about Sun not giving you the full OS?

If you don't like Redhat and don't think any linux is as good as Solaris, then don't use it. At my insbreastute, we have Redhat on Oracle servers since we need Oracle to support the installation. We also have Redhat Enterprise on our 256-CPU cluster, but will probably migrate to Gentoo when the support contract expires. I don't fault Redhat for trying to make a buck on support but I'm not going to pay for support that I'm unlikely to ever need.

Doug