Red Hat's "obfuscated" kernel source

As a former Red Hat employee I can confirm that there exist significant elements within Red Hat who maintain an unacceptable attitude towards free software and the free software community. When I was acting as community liaison for Red Hat's cluster group I was specifically directed by a highly placed manager to undermine the community, the OpenGFS group in particular (a directive I did not act on, quite the contrary). In a sales meeting/rally I witnessed the sales manager tell the several hundred people about "piracy" of Red Hat systems. I spoke up on that occasion, saying that there is no such thing as piracy of open source software, that is something that happens to Microsoft. I am sure this comment, however obviously true, was not appreciated. I also was informed of a discussion that had taken place amongst Red Hat management along the lines that kernel developers (such as me) had to be "controlled more". At the time I was being managed by an IT guy who had been brought in from Compaq. Needless to say, that did not work out well at all and neither of us are there any more (possibly having more than half an engineering team walk out would not be helpful to a career trajectory). I also witnessed a highly placed manager much loved by a particular division, assassinated and pushed out of the company by peers who one could describe as, ahem, somewhat less than loved. Well there you have it, Red Hat from the inside. Yes, Red Hat is deeply challenged with respect to community values. Yet it is still a good company relatively speaking and a net positive force for free software. In many cases Red Hat does take the ethical high road, but certainly not in all. I still own all my Red Hat shares, which I think is a pretty clear statement of my overall opinion. But those comparisons between Microsoft and Red Hat? There exists an unsettling grain of truth.