[lug] No more RedHat for regular folks!

[Ferdinand Schmid]

--On Wednesday, November 05, 2003 04:03:28 PM -0700 John Hernandez
<John.Hernandez at noaa.gov> wrote:

> I don't think the suits at Novell view it this way.  They're probably
> thinking, if Red Hat is going to charge this much for "Enterprise"
> Linux, why can't we?  The market should settle at some price
<snip>

SuSE has always had an enterprise edition - longer than RedHat did as
far as I know.  It costs around $800 initially and then $700 per
year.  You get fast tech support and a guaranteed 5 year life span
along with free upgrades for your money.  SuSE also has a fairly
expensive desktop offering that lets one admin take care of thousands
of desktops through an advanced management system.

All of these products didn't stop them from offering a consumer
version of Linux.  I think they understand that there is a demand for
lower cost Linux and it can be served in a profitable manner.  Novell
isn't wealthy enough to abandon this profitable part of SuSE's
business.  

You can only grow through mass adoption, which is what Linux does
these days in Europe.  Based on a recent InfoWorld article you can now
find Linux on the desktops of many small to mid sized businesses in
Germany.  In my opinion RedHat is trying to become another Sun
Microsystems (elite player) while SuSE wants to become a mass player
like Microsoft.  With all the things I hold against Microsoft I do
believe that their business model of serving everybody is key to IT
success.  I hope Novell understands that.

Ferdinand

--
Ferdinand Schmid
Architectural Energy Corporation
Celebrating 21 Years of Improving Building Energy Performance
http://www.archenergy.com