6 ms·

I wonder how many companies will either not upgrade to RHEL 8 or seek to leave RHEL because of the acquisition by IBM.

by mikece 8y ago

ocdtrekkie 8y ago
Most companies are more pragmatic than this. Change adds risk, and companies which select RHEL are relying on it's stability and enterprise support, and will likely continue to do so, until there is a real, material reason to reconsider, such as IBM changing the pricing or service agreement. (Note as a comparison, individuals who distrust Microsoft moved their projects off GitHub when it was acquired, but most businesses, even those in direct competition with Microsoft, such as Google, did not.)
Novashi 8y ago
About as many that left Github when it was acquired by Microsoft.
- craftyguy 8y ago
  Judging by the surge of new users on alternative platforms (gitlab), that's at least a couple of thousand. https://thenextweb.com/dd/2018/06/04/devs-are-flooding-to-gitlab-amidst-github-microsoft-acquisition-rumors/ https://thenextweb.com/dd/2018/06/04/devs-are-flooding-to-gi... Edit: Your silly comparison deserved a silly response. Customer bases and services between the two are not similar.
  - kbenson 8y ago
    But how many paying customers? It's slightly different also because Github may not want to lose non-paying customers either, because of name recognition and not wanting competitors being seen much, but I don't think the IBM acquisition will sway most people that are using CentOS, since it's already somewhat divorced from RHEL proper.
    - craftyguy 8y ago
      No, it's incredibly different to compare the number of customers who might leave Red Hat to the number of customers who left Github. The services are not even close to being similar, and the customers are generally not even close to being similar.
      - kbenson 8y ago
        > it's incredibly different to compare the number of customers who might leave Red Hat to the number of customers who left Github. I don't think it's that different. Github makes somewhere around 50% of it's revenue from enterprise customers.[1] That said, my point was that they aren't very similar, so we seem to be saying the same thing, you just seem to be doing so rather aggressively. 1: https://www.businessinsider.com/githubs-enterprise-service-brings-in-half-its-200-million-in-sales-2017-10 https://www.businessinsider.com/githubs-enterprise-service-b...
  - Novashi 8y ago
    The question about who will leave is always silly because we don’t have privileged info about IBM’s plans for what happens after the acquisition. Things that keep people with RedHat could go away without much notice. That’s why the uproar and threats to leave over the MS acquisition was dumb.
    - pjmlp 8y ago
      And it isn't as if the new home couldn't be bought as well.
    - craftyguy 8y ago
      I'm affiliated with a number of projects that moved from github after the MS acquisition, and I'm aware of a few others. So at least some of us decided to act and not threaten.
- williamstein 8y ago
  There is more optimism about the future of Microsoft than the future of IBM. Evidence: Microsoft's stock price has nearly tripled during the last 5 years, whereas IBM's has dropped almost 40% during the same period.
gaius 8y ago
The real question is if IBM will cut off CentOS in the hope of driving customers to pay for RHEL.
- rwmj 8y ago
  So I work for Red Hat and the truth is no one will know until after the acquisition, but there are certainly no plans for that, nor have I heard anyone even discussing such a thing. CentOS is a valuable part of Red Hat and an important part of keeping users in the ecosystem even if they're not paying us, so it wouldn't really make any sense. IBM aren't stupid (despite nonsense that people write online), and Red Hat is a cash machine and they'd be stupid if they messed with a proven model which works.
  - ianai 8y ago
    Seems like supporting and incorporating RHEL support into IBM’s business is the reason they bought RHEL. They effectively grew their business contracts with the addition of all the RHEL contracts. If anything, I would expect business as usual for their business customers. It was a really obvious market move in hindsight.
    - merb 8y ago
      my guess is they bought redhat because it bought coreos. and ibm wanted that, too.
      - recentdarkness 8y ago
        That’s a big premium over this what? 250 million?
- tapoxi 8y ago
  It would do damage to the brand, and then you'd see developers fork Fedora and build their own RHEL-like "enterprise Linux".
- kbenson 8y ago
tapoxi 8y ago
I don't think "but IBM sucks" is a good enough reason to change an entire infrastructure away from RHEL/CentOS.
spicyusername 8y ago
I don't think any serious Enterprise will leave until they're giving a reason that's more than the acquisition itself. So if Red Hat continues doing good by their customers, things will continue business as usual.

I wonder how many companies will either not upgrade to RHEL 8 or seek to leave RHEL because of the acquisition by IBM.

by mikece 8y ago

I wonder how many companies will either not upgrade to RHEL 8 or seek to leave RHEL because of the acquisition by IBM.

Most companies are more pragmatic than this. Change adds risk, and companies which select RHEL are relying on it's stability and enterprise support, and will likely continue to do so, until there is a real, material reason to reconsider, such as IBM changing the pricing or service agreement. (Note as a comparison, individuals who distrust Microsoft moved their projects off GitHub when it was acquired, but most businesses, even those in direct competition with Microsoft, such as Google, did not.)

Novashi 8y ago

About as many that left Github when it was acquired by Microsoft.

craftyguy 8y ago
Judging by the surge of new users on alternative platforms (gitlab), that's at least a couple of thousand. https://thenextweb.com/dd/2018/06/04/devs-are-flooding-to-gitlab-amidst-github-microsoft-acquisition-rumors/ https://thenextweb.com/dd/2018/06/04/devs-are-flooding-to-gi... Edit: Your silly comparison deserved a silly response. Customer bases and services between the two are not similar.
- kbenson 8y ago
  But how many paying customers? It's slightly different also because Github may not want to lose non-paying customers either, because of name recognition and not wanting competitors being seen much, but I don't think the IBM acquisition will sway most people that are using CentOS, since it's already somewhat divorced from RHEL proper.
  - craftyguy 8y ago
    No, it's incredibly different to compare the number of customers who might leave Red Hat to the number of customers who left Github. The services are not even close to being similar, and the customers are generally not even close to being similar.
    - kbenson 8y ago
      > it's incredibly different to compare the number of customers who might leave Red Hat to the number of customers who left Github. I don't think it's that different. Github makes somewhere around 50% of it's revenue from enterprise customers.[1] That said, my point was that they aren't very similar, so we seem to be saying the same thing, you just seem to be doing so rather aggressively. 1: https://www.businessinsider.com/githubs-enterprise-service-brings-in-half-its-200-million-in-sales-2017-10 https://www.businessinsider.com/githubs-enterprise-service-b...
- Novashi 8y ago
  The question about who will leave is always silly because we don’t have privileged info about IBM’s plans for what happens after the acquisition. Things that keep people with RedHat could go away without much notice. That’s why the uproar and threats to leave over the MS acquisition was dumb.
  - pjmlp 8y ago
    And it isn't as if the new home couldn't be bought as well.
  - craftyguy 8y ago
    I'm affiliated with a number of projects that moved from github after the MS acquisition, and I'm aware of a few others. So at least some of us decided to act and not threaten.
williamstein 8y ago
There is more optimism about the future of Microsoft than the future of IBM. Evidence: Microsoft's stock price has nearly tripled during the last 5 years, whereas IBM's has dropped almost 40% during the same period.

gaius 8y ago

The real question is if IBM will cut off CentOS in the hope of driving customers to pay for RHEL.

rwmj 8y ago
So I work for Red Hat and the truth is no one will know until after the acquisition, but there are certainly no plans for that, nor have I heard anyone even discussing such a thing. CentOS is a valuable part of Red Hat and an important part of keeping users in the ecosystem even if they're not paying us, so it wouldn't really make any sense. IBM aren't stupid (despite nonsense that people write online), and Red Hat is a cash machine and they'd be stupid if they messed with a proven model which works.
- ianai 8y ago
  Seems like supporting and incorporating RHEL support into IBM’s business is the reason they bought RHEL. They effectively grew their business contracts with the addition of all the RHEL contracts. If anything, I would expect business as usual for their business customers. It was a really obvious market move in hindsight.
  - merb 8y ago
    my guess is they bought redhat because it bought coreos. and ibm wanted that, too.
    - recentdarkness 8y ago
      That’s a big premium over this what? 250 million?
tapoxi 8y ago
It would do damage to the brand, and then you'd see developers fork Fedora and build their own RHEL-like "enterprise Linux".
kbenson 8y ago

tapoxi 8y ago

I don't think "but IBM sucks" is a good enough reason to change an entire infrastructure away from RHEL/CentOS.

spicyusername 8y ago

I don't think any serious Enterprise will leave until they're giving a reason that's more than the acquisition itself. So if Red Hat continues doing good by their customers, things will continue business as usual.