The following three replies are taken from a longer Q & A just published at www.LinuxQuestions.org. Hogan, Manager of Community Relations at Red Hat, does not seem unduly concerned about UserLinux.

Q. What are your thoughts on UserLinux?

Hogan: It's a great boost for Debian efforts (meaning the part of the announcement regarding funding). I'm not sure what some of the statements about "proprietary open source" were about, but you say what makes the trades, I guess. I'm still not sure if it's an effort to get funding being Debian-based distros, or a reaction to things Red Hat is doing, or what.

We'll see. Maybe they'll join UnitedLinux and really stick it to us. :-D

 

Q. Do you think it poses a legitimate threat to Red Hat Enterprise Linux?

Hogan: Not really. Not yet, anyway. I tend to look outside the community for the enemy and we've got bigger, imminent threats right now. So do they, for that matter and everyone else too busy kicking our shins to notice.

 

Q. What is your response to Bruce Perens' comment that Linux distribution does not work well as a profit center?

Hogan: I think he means that it's tough to differentiate in that space. Past models showed that selling the instance of the bits was the only way to get paid. You can't do that with the GPL, so you work to become the low cost, efficiency experts.

We're certainly hearing from folks wanting boxed sets with books and CDs, and our retail line is profitable (despite support entitlements coming off out of boxed product pricing) but it scales it self out fast, unless it's all you do or just one of many.

For us, we know that the service, support, and the solution stack is where it's heading on the revenue side. People want solutions.

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