Something missing in the comments here is that redhat was not a random SW company or consulting firm like IBM but was hiring open source contributors for their

Something missing in the comments here is that redhat was not a random SW company or consulting firm like IBM but was hiring open source contributors for their knowledge/experience to ensure the evolution and control of the os stacks that they are using(/selling). This was their core asset, the total experience of its engineers. Now, if you go on the way to take any unexperienced and cheap random dude to reduce costs. With the promise that it will have a hard time becoming senior for cost reasons. To do whatever software a ibm-like management decide. Then, Redhat as we know it will be a ghost of itself in a few years!