Why does RedHat Workstation cost as much / more than Vista?

**cprofitt** · November 26th, 2007

I am just curious why RedHat can charge so much for the OS... its is more than some packages of Vista.

**scrooge_74** · November 26th, 2007

As far as I know (and hope some one will correct me shortly). With a Linux distro you are paying for support rather than the OS. And remember with MS you pay for the OS only, in Linux you get a lot more in the install CDs

**igknighted** · November 26th, 2007

Originally Posted by indigo196

I am just curious why RedHat can charge so much for the OS... its is more than some packages of Vista.

Vista = Desktop OS, RHEL = (primarily) Server OS

Look at the prices for Microsoft's Server OS's, then try to tell me that RHEL is more expensive (aside from home server... but thats not really a business solution). Also, RHEL is only selling you support. If you just want the software, download CentOS. It is RHEL, without the RedHat branding or support.

**cprofitt** · November 27th, 2007

Originally Posted by igknighted

Vista = Desktop OS, RHEL = (primarily) Server OS

Look at the prices for Microsoft's Server OS's, then try to tell me that RHEL is more expensive (aside from home server... but thats not really a business solution). Also, RHEL is only selling you support. If you just want the software, download CentOS. It is RHEL, without the RedHat branding or support.

RHEL is not a desktop -- what is RedHats desktop product?

**peterbrewer** · November 27th, 2007

Again its the support your paying for as the guy who pointed out cent os mentioned.

**cprofitt** · November 27th, 2007

Do you not get support when you buy Windows Vista?

**igknighted** · November 27th, 2007

Originally Posted by indigo196

Do you not get support when you buy Windows Vista?

Depends. If you are a business and you buy a volume license agreement or something along those lines you can get support. But if you are a home user or you just buy a copy of windows and not through a special arrangement with microsoft... no. Try calling up microsoft for help with windows... you will be charged or flat out turned away. Often when you buy a PC from Dell or HP you are buying support from them... but that price is added on to the cost of the computer, and not included in the cost of the windows operating system.

As for your question about RH's Desktop OS... there really isn't one at the moment (at least marketed commercially). Fedora is desktop-aimed, but is far too unstable for a corporate desktop (it's aim is to be as cutting edge as possible). Novell, on the other hand, offers SLES (enterprise server) and SLED (enterprise desktop). They are priced differently because they are targeted differently. There is rumor of Red Hat offering a Desktop OS soon as part of a whitebox PC program... but the talk all summer was that it would happen this fall, and fall has come and is almost gone, and I haven't heard anything since, so who knows.

EDIT: SLES runs for almost the exact price that RHEL does, which is almost the exact price of the same term of Canonical support for Ubuntu. So price-wise, on the server, all of these are very comparable. On the desktop, I saw SLED 10 available at my local barnes & noble bookstore for about $30... far cheaper than any Vista release. A fully boxed version from Novell is priced as follows: http://shop.novell.com/store/novell/...goryID.9621900

**KiwiNZ** · November 27th, 2007

Thread title edited

**cprofitt** · November 28th, 2007

Originally Posted by KiwiNZ

Thread title edited

Thanks... I noticed that I screwed up the title.

To the others thanks... especially for the information about Novell's offering. Thought I really like apt-get more than the other package management options SUSE does make a strong case for an enterprise desktop deployment.