Putting Unbreakable Linux into perspective (451 CAOS) [LWN.net]

Matthew Aslett speculates on what's really going on with Oracle Linux on the 451 CAOS site. "To put it simply: a win for Linux is a win for Oracle as it immediately takes SQL Server, Exchange, Visual Studio et al out of the equation and increases the likelihood that a customer will choose Oracle software. From that perspective it is clearly in Oracles interests that Linux succeeds, whether that means Red Hat, Novell or Ubuntu. The only problem for Oracle is that a win for Linux introduces a new third party that stands between its software and its customers."

(Log in to post comments)

Putting Unbreakable Linux into perspective (451 CAOS)

Posted Nov 16, 2007 15:55 UTC (Fri) by kripkenstein (subscriber, #43281) [Link]

The article makes a good point: If Linux succeeds then all Microsoft products are
automatically out of the picture where it is installed, leaving more space for competitors,
including Oracle. However, it seems to me that Oracle's main motivation is far simpler: By
selling the entire stack - Oracle DB on Oracle Linux on Oracle virtualization - they can
ensure that their products work well together, and in general have an easier time signing up
customers (who prefer a single vendor than a medley).

On the other hand, if they don't certify Oracle DB on Red Hat/SUSE/etc. then they are risking
losing business. So it will be interesting to see how they manage that.

Minor note: It says Oracle Unbreakable Linux has 1,500 paying customers. Honest question: is
that impressive or not? Does anyone know, for example, how many customers Red Hat and Novell
have, for comparison?

But how many $99 customers?

Posted Nov 16, 2007 19:04 UTC (Fri) by dmarti (subscriber, #11625) [Link]

Oracle also has a $99 price for online updates only, and they don't seem to say how many are
real support customers and how many are Google Impairment Syndrome patients who are paying the
$99 because they can't find CentOS.

Putting Unbreakable Linux into perspective (451 CAOS)

Posted Nov 17, 2007 4:58 UTC (Sat) by rahulsundaram (subscriber, #21946) [Link]

Red Hat I believe had a claim of over 2 million subscribers in the last Red Hat Summit.

Putting Unbreakable Linux into perspective (451 CAOS)

Posted Nov 17, 2007 6:24 UTC (Sat) by kripkenstein (subscriber, #43281) [Link]

> Red Hat I believe had a claim of over 2 million subscribers in the last Red Hat Summit.

Thanks. Ok, so Oracle's number is not impressive. I guess their point was that it was not a
bad result for one year.

Putting Unbreakable Linux into perspective (451 CAOS)

Posted Nov 23, 2007 10:28 UTC (Fri) by Cato (subscriber, #7643) [Link]

No. of customers (companies) is not the same as no. of subscribers I would guess - perhaps the
RHEL subscriber is an individual computer.