IBM has been in the Linux game for sometime but spending $34B on Red Hat is a very visible validation of open source. A welcome sign of success and standing for Linux and open source. Initial statements from both companies say Red Hat will retain its name, identity, culture, facilities, etc. Down the road, watch if IBM markets RH as āRed Hatā and āRHELā or subsumes it into IBM branding. Presumably, the Red Hat brand is a very strong sales point and IBM will capitalize on that.
Fedora seems such an integral part of RHās development process that its contributions would need to be replaced if the project was curtailed. I donāt think CentOS is much of a player in the massive cloud accounts IBM is chasing so I donāt think theyād see it as competitive. But, then, Iāve never really understood exactly what RH gets out of its nurturing of CentOS.
i see big boy is on the move;
RIP RHEL.
While many of you cheer on this; I donāt think this will end well for open source RHEL; and will likely end CentOS becoming proprietary IBM system. Many off you will disagree, but thats simply how i see it. Iāve seen it before, with BlackICE and many other tools that IBM aquired.
Ditto! If this means Big Blue will invest significantly in Red Hat while preserving the libre philosophy, then itās a good move. If they benefit from Red Hatās significant cloud clout in return, I donāt mind as long as they donāt try to proprie-f*ck everything up!
But if they are going to eat up RHL and destroy everything that was good about it, turning it into an extended Big Blue armā¦ then itās a sad day, indeed. Not unlike Micro$oft āvowingā to āprotectā GNU/Linux.
What concerns me most here is that this news blindsided Red Hat employees.
The confirmations today are because Bloomberg broke the news early, in keeping with their āpublish first, validate laterā strategy that recently gave us the Chinese Spy Chip storyā¦
But I digress.
Red Hat employees found out about this about the same time we did, which has led to some concern among them.
I canāt imagine a bigger culture clash.
As a Red Hat employee, almost everyone here would prefer it if we were bought out by Microsoft.
That last concerns me most. Right or wrong, the perception that IBM is a bad fit might cause Red Hat to lose key devs, and that could have some pretty broad implications on the larger Linux ecosystem.
I think the move makes sense from a business perspective, and I think IBMās done a decent job of supporting open source in the past. If IBM can cut through their own internal bureaucracy, this could be good. If they canāt, itāll choke Red Hat to death.
Really, Iām more interested in what happens to the Fedora Project than anything else. I think that matters more for desktop Linux.
Iām here sitting and pondering if I should switch from CentOSā¦ Guess Iāll wait and see. No need to be rash.
Yup! This resonates with me too!
This is great news.
Hopefully the Fedora project get some love to now.
Or maybe a public version of Red hat for the masses would be awesome.
As an AIX user, Iām not looking forward to IBMās influence on RHEL. OTOH, if some of RHELās tools can be ported to AIX that would be a breath of fresh air.
However, too often when a big company gobbles up a smaller one, the bigger company appoints new management that then proceeds to screw things up. Once the smaller company experiences profit losses, it is then disbanded and its products discontinued.
A simple overview of some of the reasons acquisitions fail is here: https://www.cio.com/article/3057172/mergers-acquisitions/4-reasons-mergers-and-acquisitions-are-doomed-to-fail.html
Ironically, itās written by a former IBMer. Maybe I should take some solace in that. Itās possible that IBM knows what its doingā¦
That is CentOS.
Yeah i know, but i mean a more usable version for the masses.
Allthough CentOS is also usable for the average home user.
But Fedora in that regards is a probably a better choice in terms of media support and such.
My, my, what an odd twist and turn it was to get to this post 
I was re-redirected to the āoriginalā post, lol
Interesting. Potentially good news. Had you told me this a little while ago I would have been ecstatic. Lately, within the last month or so, Iāve spoken to a handful of people about the benefits of forking and rehashing, mixing and mashingā¦ And while Iām a bit more reserved about news like this, now, Iām confident that if something crazy happens, we can just fork it and move on 
As long as Fedora and OpenShift remain leaders in the operating system and container orchestration fields, I wonāt be too perturbed.
@Goalkeeper while I may be a Debian guy now, I was born a Fedora man 
There is a difference between Server and Desktop use cases.
I know thats why i pointed that out.
CentOS isnt really a typical desktop use OS.
Allthough all the base features are there.
Ah you mean like a new red hat distro?
I think it would be good to continue to push fedora to that goal, itās close.
Yeah thats what i ment.
Or pushing Fedora up a littlebit more.
I mean Fedora has really made some big steps towards the home user,
and user friendliness.
Which is great, because i think we really need it for the home user.
I mean sure Ubuntu is still there for the masses.
But with Ubuntu i kinda have the feeling that they start to go a more commercial route like MS.
Which isnt necessarily a good thing.
The main thing Iāll be looking out for is if they continue to hire devs to work on projects that arenāt strictly part of red hat. Gnome, builder, fwupd, etc.
Oracle Linux or Scientific Linux
Red Hat Desktop IBM Linux for End Users
Or RHDIBMLEU
Members
Fedora Linux for Enterprise Members
Or:
FLEM