master thesis

[vanrixtel]

Dear Reader,

Currently I am writing my master's thesis.
I am browsing on the possiblities to make
a comparison between Debian and Red Hat/
S.u.S.e. my main line of research.

In this forum I would like to have a first
test of my ideas.

Debian and Red Hat both are Linux Distributions.
One is Open Source, the other is commercial.
What do you think are the main differences?

My brainstorming resulted in questions like:
Is their target market similar, or do you
think Red Hat to have a focus on the little
less skilled mass market?
Is there a difference in the contributions
these two projects make to Open Source at large?
Does Red Hat have a stronger focus on service,
and end-user services, or not?

I am very interested in what your ideas are!

Kind Regards,

Joan van Rixtel
JH.vanRixtel*AT*student.unimaas.nl

[Six]

Hello and welcome Joan,

i don't know if i can be of any assistance, because i am a pure Debian user who has only very limited experience with other distributions, especially Red Hat. But i'll try.

First i would not talk of open source and commercial as a differentiation between Red Hat and Debian. I think i know what you mean by the distinction but basically both are open source. May i suggest profit/non-profit oriented distribution as a replacement?

Actually this would already explain a lot. Distributions for profit need to be profitable and must therefore consider the customers wishes. This might lead to developments that are impossible for a non-profit distribution and network like Debian. Read the social contract of Debian ( http://www.debian.org/intro/about ) for more information about this. The contract makes it very obvious what is in and what is out. Take for example the discussion, if the possibly upcoming Version of the GPL is still compatible with Debian ideals.

But profit distributions not only adapt to customer preferences but they also influence them by including certain programs into their boxed sets and not others, thus limiting their choice. Something that at least Debian is not doing as long as it is free (in the sense of liberty) software.

In other words almost all points you suggested make sense when looking at a profit oriented company, but leave much to be desired when looking at Debian. A target market for Debian? I hardly think that Debian is targeting anything in the sense of market. Certainly they are aiming at some kind of community, but to create it, not to deliver something to it. Debian is pretty much a hobby product done by enthusiastic hobbyists. Therefore the point of market seems to be moot, unless you want to call those hobbyists a market.

Contributions to Open Source? All major players i know contribute. Maybe the focus is more on the company contributing than on the individual, except some notable and prominent persons who had a known name even before they started working for *this* or *that* company.

Who contributes more? I don't know and i think most don't care. Debian as a network is not contributing like a company. The focus is more on the individual, prominent or not.

Lastly, of course do companys have a stronger focus on service. The whole Open Source thing makes this the main (if not only) source of revenue. The software is basically free of charge, bar some special closed applications like SuSE's YAST (actually i don't know if YAST is still closed. Info anyone?) and you pay the service of compiling it, boxing it, supplying a printed documentation, etc. They have as much interest in binding the customer to their product as any other company does and they need to distinguish themselves and all they can do is write closed apps or offer better service. Guess why SuSE is so big in Germany. Their german localization is pretty much unmatched and customers are rewarding the effort, that went into this service.

Well, that's pretty much writing already, so i cut it out now. I'm - of course - open to discussion.

Ah, just one more thing. Do you understand written german? Some forum members aren't so fond of english and might want to reply in german. I can offer a short translation of your basic question if you think this would help.

Regards

[vanrixtel]

Dear Six,

Thanks a lot for reply!
Let's start with mentioning that I do understand written German, so any replies in German are most welcome. But I am afraid that if I would write in German, I would probably annoy as many people, as I do now while writting in English. Enschuldigung.

I like your distinction between commercial and for profit, never thought about it till now, but it definitely makes sense. My ideas so far, focussed on a distinction between mundane tasks (non-source contributions) and source contributions. Where the latter in Raymond's words would add to reputation and the former a little less. So I explicitly included all kinds of contributions to the open source network, rather then just code.
With these mundane task, I included end-user services since this would not directly benefit the program nor the contributor himself. And for that reason would mundane tasks harder to be conducted in an open source mode. Eventually leading to the distinction between Red Hat (user oriented) and Debian (development oriented/skilled users) as described before.

Greetings,

Joan.

[Eric]

Hi and welcome on board Joan,

As mentioned Redhat and Suse are Companys, and thus focused on making profit.

They both offer a way to directly communicate with the Staff in case u get stuck on Installing/Using the Distribution. (Support)
As a Service they guarantee their customers an qualified answer within 24 hours or so.
Not to be mentioned that this "service" has to be paid (On Redhat you get as far as i know 60 days free support if you buy a package)
Furthermore Suse stopped the free download of their Distribution via the Internet so the only way to get their Distribution is to copy it from a friend or buy their package.

In my opinion the main financial income gain of this two Distributors is by providing professional Support Services.

Debian on the other hand exists due to its strong community.

There are plenty free Boards dealing with Debian around on which you may ask your questions.

Hope this is helpful,

Regards

Eric