[clue-talk] CLUE Member in the News

[Collins Richey]

On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 12:20:18 -0600, Gary Threlkeld <gthrelk at comcast.net> wrote:
>  
>  
> 
> Alright Collins !   
> 
>   
> 
> Saw your name in the CNET newe as a CentOS advocate, thought the group would
> be interested …. 
> 

Yeah, the only thing the reporter kept was my comment about not
needing RedHat support {as a home user]. Just FWIW, here's the full
text of my discussion with the reporter.

---
From: Collins Richey <crichey at gmail.com>
To: Stephen Shankland <Stephen.Shankland at cnet.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 21:41:58 -0700
Subject: Re: Reporter question: CentOS

On Mon, 21 Mar 2005 18:41:23 -0800, Stephen Shankland
<Stephen.Shankland at cnet.com> wrote:
> Hey, I'm the CNET News.com Linux reporter, and I'm working on a story
> about Red Hat Enterprise Linux clones. I'm trying to hear from users as
> well as the corporations, and you seemed like a knowledgable person (I
> pulled your name off the mailing list). If you have a minute or two, I'd
> be grateful if you could answer some questions:
>
> --How many computers do you have today that run Linux?

2 of them. I've been a Gentoo user for many years, but I'm now
employed by a RedHat shop, so CentOS is my freeware OS of choice for
compatibility with what we run at work. My laptop is still running
Gentoo, but when I have time I'll probably put up CentOS there too for
comparison.

[ a side note. Laptop converted to CentOS on Sunday ]

>
> --Are you concerned that a Red Hat clone won't have enough support? (I
> observed with interest your concern about the support lifespan of
> CentOS.)

There is always some level of worry, but CentOS appears to have solid
support, and they seem committed to echo the RHEL life cycles. See at
bottom for my other need for a longer life cycle.

>
> --What would it take to make you switch from a Red Hat clone to real
> RHEL?

It wouldn't happen. I don't pay for Linux, and I have absolutely no
need for RedHat style subscription to support. Questions seldom go
unanswered on the CentOS list for more that a few hours. CentOS
mirrors the RedHat errata pretty quickly.

>
> --How much would you be willing to pay per year for RHEL support?

See above: zippo.

>
> --How important is it that that a RHEL clone be 100% compatible with
> RHEL?

Moderate but increasing. I'm considering recommending CentOS for
limited use as a trial project even at work. My associate who
recommended CentOS is very concerned about 100% compatibility. My
impression is that it will be about 98%, because CentOS will find some
vulnerabilities that RedHat may not choose to address immediately.

[ A side note: Greg Knaddison is the one who recommended CentOS ]

>
> --Do you have any complaints with CentOS?
>

The only complaint I (as a home user) have about any RPM distribution
is the strictly limited set of supported packages. I like to tinker
with newer packages, but that's pretty low on the list of concerns for
commercial users. I'm spoiled by the Gentoo offerings of thousands of
packages, and of course Debian users have even more available. Right
now there's good compatibility between Fedora/CentOS/RHEL/Mandrake,
but that will change as Fedora and Mandrake drift off on new paths.
The Dag repository is a good source of packages that aren't available
from the ReHat (CentOS) sources.

> --Anything else?
>
> You also can call me or send IM if you want to chat.
>

I don't have much time to chat with my new job, but I can respond via
email if you have further questions. Be sure to let me know when your
article is published.

FYI, I started with a plain vanilla CentOS using the default Gnome
installation, and that worked superbly (I couldn't tell much
difference from Fedora FC3), but I've veered off that path. A Denver
group that I'm supporting has undertaken a project to supply recycled,
older generation computers with Linux-only to disadvantaged kids. I
had good success with Fedora, but an associate told me about CentOS.
Since Fedora has a much shorter life cycle, I switched over to CentOS.
Fedora will not remain as stable as RHEL/CentOS, since it's primary
purpose is to be the RedHat labrat. I'm currently running CentOS with
IceWm as the desktop/window manager, since the machines we get (slow
and low memory) will not perform well with KDE or Gnome.

Hope this helps, and good luck with your article.

---

Enjoy

-- 
 Collins
       When I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, 8 million of them, 
       it was the start of a new Arab world.... The Berlin Wall has fallen. 
               - Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt