this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2023
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (14 children)

In my eyes my problem with moving to SUSE or Ubuntu is that it's the same thing. A corporation backed or straight up corporation developed and owned distro still has ONE failure point. Right now SUSE are "the good guys", but what if they get bought? What if there's a new CEO? What if they suddenly just decide to abuse their power? Then you're simply screwed. Red Hat were also seen as "one of the good guys" some months ago, but the way things work, companies always end up pivoting towards what makes them more money. Them being ethical is nothing but a luxury that happens if they can afford it and if we are lucky.

I'm moving to Debian once I get my new PC.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Absolutely agreed. I just don't think many non-IT businesses would consider using Debian. So, if you want a job, get certified on one of the commercial three.

I use Debian on my servers already, though I'm on Arch with my pc and laptop.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Absolutely agreed. I just don’t think many non-IT businesses would consider using Debian.

Really? I'd assume the opposite case, no? If a business is not related to IT, it doesn't really need to be compatible with the RHEL environment or tech support, whereas an IT business would prefer those. I also use Debian for my server and have never had any issues with it. Just upgraded it to bookworm recently and it was boringly seamless.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nah @exu is right: non-IT focused companies do not have the skills or desire to reliably set up and maintain these systems. There is no benefit to them creating their own server stack based on a community distro to save a few bucks.

Smaller companies will hire MSPs to get them setup and maintain what they need. And medium to large size companies would want an enterprise solution (IE: RHEL) they can reliably integrate into their operations.

This is for a few high value reasons. Taking Red Hat as an example:

  1. Standardization (IE: they can hire people with RedHat certificates and they will be a few steps ahead in ramping up to internal systems)
  2. Vendor support (IE: if something critical isn't working they can get quick support from a Red Hat technician and get it resolved quickly)
  3. Reliability (IE: all software is backed and tested by Red Hat and if anything breaks from a package update its on Red Hat to fix)

When lots of money is on the line companies want as many safety/contingency plans as they can get which is why RedHat makes sense.

The only companies that will roll their own solution are either very small with knowledgeable IT people (smaller startups), or MASSIVE companies that will create very custom solutions and then train their own IT operations divisions (talking like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon levels).

Not to say what Red Hat did is justified or good, because hampering the FOSS ecosystem is destructive overall, but just putting this into context.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I hadn't thought of it that way, it makes sense. Thank you for the nice explanation.

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