12 Jun
2005
12 Jun
'05
9:53 a.m.
Brent Frère wrote:
SuSE Linux Professional is an updated super-set of
SLES, so what works
on SLES should work also on SuSE Linux Professional. As a copy of the
DVDs is around 50 € (update) and is usable on as much as wished
computers, I think there is no need for a recompilation of SLES, as the
use of such a recompilation should make official support for big
softwares (Oracle, ...) void anyway...
I believe that there are enough differences between SLES and SuSE Pro
which could make commercial software fail. OTOH, CentOS is 100%
identical to RHEL on the source code level, giving it a much better
chance to run the targeted software without problems. Also, CentOS users
do test just that, so the risk is really limited and feeback would be
given to the project.
Of course, vendors will not certify their product for CentOS, but who
cares? If you chose to use CentOS, you don't want the RHEL support. But
CentOS will allow a company to save money
Another even more important point is that CentOS will allow you and me
to exercise your skills and prepare RHCE / RHCT exams without expenses.
That second point is IMO the most interesting one for non-commercial
Linux people. There's no perfect alternative for SLES here.
This way, RHEL is a real product on my server through CentOS, but
there's no way I could get a SLES, either genuine or cloned, to play
with without paying some serious money. That's a commercial disadvantage
for SuSE, and might be the reason why RH does "support" CentOS is some
indirect way.
-pu