4 ms·

The software is free, is it not? Red Hat's business model is subscription based.

• kbenson 10y ago
  The software is free. CentOS is a testament to that.
• yeukhon 10y ago
  No, I am referring to Stallman's view on free software. See below. Software free to download vs "free software" from a license PoV aren't necessarily the same. Redhat's products are best to describe as open source software. https://www.gnu.org/distros/common-distros.en.html https://www.gnu.org/distros/common-distros.en.html
  • duozerk 10y ago
    Redhat's code is Free software, actually. The page you link simply says they don't follow the free software distribution guidelines (and thus are not endorsed by the FSF/GNU project) because they also allow non-free software in their repos.
  • schoen 10y ago
    A better reference for Stallman's view here is probably https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/categories.html https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/categories.html, which shows why Red Hat's business is probably reasonably described as a free software business (particularly since "the differences in extension of the category [open source] are small").
  • cyphar 10y ago
    You're incorrect. Red Hat (and SUSE)'s distributions are free-as-in-freedom software (or at the very least, the majority of the distribution is free -- the link you posted is complaining about a very small minority of the software that is part of such distributions [which is a problem but is not as big of a problem as you claim]). The fact that you won't get official updates after a trial period (or if your subscription runs out) isn't against the principles of free software. As a user, you still have the source code and have the freedom to maintain the distribution yourself (nobody does, but the freedom is still there).