Red Hat Announces New Desktop OS

[jlc]

RHEL Desktop

 

NEWS

[Gowator]

Yep i read .... and they are not making it available to consumers ???

[Guest anon]

Minimum purchase is ten "units"

[Ixthusdan]

It's called marketing, and is an excellent idea. Buyers do not know that a desktop is a desktop. They are marketing to those buyers, who usually fall for windex under the same ruse.

[banjo]

I don't get it.

 

So, you buy one Mandy and put it on 10 of your

desktops. Why would I want to buy 10 Red Hats

for the same 10 desktops?

 

:huh:

 

Am I missing something?

 

Banjo

(_)=='=~

[jlc]

one work "SUPPORT"

 

:P

[anacron]

From another thread: The Linux Business Model

 

(Gowator @ May 4 2004, 03:38 PM)

I think this differentiates linux from windows. In linux you need a service to go with the product not just an empty box.with a CD ..???

 

 

True. So, if the enterprise is going to be profitable, it has to bundle a service (that is of value to consumers) with the software. That's the kind of thing that worries me about Mandrake's viability. I'm not sure it has that yet, and I haven't heard about them moving in that direction.

[jdion81]

True. So, if the enterprise is going to be profitable, it has to bundle a service (that is of value to consumers) with the software.

Look at Linspire, they have given away the OS many times in hopes of people trying it and liking it then subscribing to CNR. I like this idea of marketing. It lets me get the OS try it in a real world situation, see if it works with my hardware, see if my wife can use it then allow me to support the company that provides my OS with payment for its services. The part that I really like is that no-one is denied the opportunity to try it and thus forced to get the software by other shady means.

[banjo]

one work "SUPPORT"

 

I guess I just assumed that I was on my own with Linux.

I did not expect the distro packager to provide any

hand-holding once I installed Mandy.

 

Does Red Hat actually provide continuing support for their product?

 

Banjo

(_)=='=~

[jlc]

When you buy it for your buisness, you can get all types of support options.

 

Same with SUSE, that is why they are considered the Main distros, espeically for Corparate clients.

[banjo]

Well, this board and the other open source doc groups have

provided all the support I have needed so far, which has not

been much. My Mandy 9.1 runs very well, thank you.

 

Banjo

(_)=='=~

[iphitus]

Yes but a forum like this isnt the sorta place a business is likely to turn.

 

They are used to being able to ring microsoft at $5 a minute and be told to Retry Reinstall Reformat.

[Pzatch]

I have a phone and could give then that service. Seriously, would or even could, a service like that make a buck for Mandrake?

[sitor]

If you deal with businesses, you have to provide this kind of stuff indeed!

 

And if you really want to get in to businesses, you should do much more: offer a full service like you find in big companies:

- PCs (desktops & laptops) preinstalled with all the software that is used in that company

- full support on those PCs (with an SLA i.e. if there is a HW problem or other that can not be solved remote, you send over a technician to fix the problem within x hours)

- update and patch management for the company

 

If I would run a company, and someone would want to convert me to Linux, that is what I would ask for.

 

Ciao,

 

Sitor

[zero0w]

"Support" has many meanings, but I doubt every vendor can provide the same level of support like IBM or Sun did for their UNIX/Solaris.

 

I remember reading an article where the Solaris support team was helping ILM to hack the Solaris Kernel so that special effect rendering computation could be done faster to meet a post-production deadline. Could Red Hat have the same expertise for Linux Kernel? OK, maybe I drag off the topic a bit, but sometimes it is the little work that makes all the difference. Desktop customization is another realm to explore.