[NBLUG/talk] Free RH Linux is coming to an end....

[Warren Raquel]

Actually, with the new Fedora core, if you want to keep updated with new 
Redhat created RPMS you'll need to upgrade to a NEW Fedora core every 6 
or so months..... I've put up a short explaination here: 
http://lag.assembly.uiuc.edu/board/viewtopic.php?t=4. I'll just copy and 
paste for the web disabled:

<CUT & PASTE>
Ok, I know some of you are wondering about the whole RedHat EoL deal. No 
more versions after 9. Support is dropping for all versions within the 
next couple of months and everything is moving to this whole new 'Fedora 
Project'. So what does this mean?

First let's talk about end of life. RedHat posted that end of life for 
versions 7.1 through 8.0 is December 31st, 2003. Yep, the end of this 
year. Version 9 is slated for EoL on April 30th, 2004. That means 
official support for these versions will be dropped by RedHat 
altogether. No more updates, more more support. You might see package 
updates from 3rd party RPM providers like FreshRPMs but reliability may 
be questionable at times.

Here's how Fedora will work. Every 2-3 months a new Fedora release will 
become available. The latest test release is code named 'Severn'. RedHat 
will keep updating the RPMS for each core release for up to 2-3 months 
after the NEXT core is released. So, if we figure a 2-3 month release 
cycle and 2-3 months until EoL for the previous core we're looking at a 
lifecycle of approximately 7 months for each release. Each release you 
can akin to having to upgrade from RedHat 8.0 to RedHat 9.

 From what I gather it looks like the freely available version of RedHat 
will only have a reliable use window of 7 months before official RPMS 
are no longer produced for it. This is a headache. How do you get around 
this? Well, maybe you could find a 3rd party who continues to create 
RPMS for previous versions or you could roll your own. RedHat wants you 
to move to RedHat Enterprise.

So, now, with RedHat Enterprise it looks like the product lifetime is 
around 5 years. What's the catch? Enterprise is licensed. The plus side 
is you don't need to go upgrading your server to a new release every 
half a year to make sure you don't get hacked. With Fedora or previous 
releases of RedHat you could just keep going as is but no official 
upgrades will be available.
</CUT & PASTE>

Bob Blick wrote:

>Just my two cents.
>
>Thank goodness they are finally realizing the stuff they've been releasing
>can't be supported. Good riddance I say. Think of the people(there must be
>at least one or two) who actually paid for 8.0 and 9.0 and the frustration
>they've had. I'm sure it's been very good for Debian, Mandrake and SuSE.
>
>Fedora project seems like the right way to handle it. "Always beta".
>
>I'm sure Enterprise is a solid product. And it makes a business model.
>
>Good move all around. Make money and give back to the developers. We all
>knew they were getting away from an off-the-shelf product.
>
>-Bob
>
>
>
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