You were not the only one. Notes and presentations from various HEPiX conferences around 2003/2004 will reveal the reaction to academic licence fees for RHEL,

You were not the only one. Notes and presentations from various HEPiX conferences around 2003/2004 will reveal the reaction to academic licence fees for RHEL, and the birth of Scientific Linux as an EL rebuild. Remember these were/are publicly funded projects with budget time-lines.