[ale] IBM is buying Redhat!

[Beddingfield, Allen]

Oh, and I forgot to mention:  Support for LONG term releases, 
backporting of fixes, and rigid change control.
For example:  Want to upgrade from version 12.2 to version 12.3?  Better 
start the approval process a year early...  document your testing plan, 
provide a tested backout plan, have adequate testing documented and 
verified by the proper people, pass the change control approval process 
to go into a limited subset of test systems....wait the required time 
for full deployment to test systems....wait the required time for 
production rollout.
Or:  Want to apply an in-the-wild zero day exploit patch? Follow a 
slightly faster variation of the above process.

The Debian or Ubuntu model will not pass the change control 
requirements.  These are the reasons that SUSE and Red Hat backport 
fixes into an old version of a package for seven+ years, instead of 
incrementing the version.  That is why SUSE is still patching PHP 5.3.x 
on SLES 11 SP4.

Allen B.

On 10/29/18 8:18 AM, Beddingfield, Allen via Ale wrote:
> Having worked in government IT, I can tell you the following:
> 1.  If it doesn't come with a 24x7 support contract and formal SLA, it 
> won't make it to the point of serious consideration.
> 2.  If it doesn't come with men in suits saying the proper buzzwords, it 
> won't get serious consideration.
> 3.  If dedicated implementation engineers and on site contract support 
> staff is not available, it is a no-go.
> Red Hat, SUSE, and Oracle are the only ones equipped to play in that area.
> 
> Allen B.
> 
> On 10/29/18 8:01 AM, Simba via Ale wrote:
>> With all due respect, I can't take your opinions seriously when you say
>> philosophy doesn't matter. Our entire nation was built on philosophy.
>> Our government serves the people and purposes of that nation.
>>
>> Anyhow there's additional reasons, for example the ease of upgrading
>> Debian based systems.
>>
>> In a sane world we would not only be talking about servers and
>> specialized infrastructure but desktops as well, in fact desktops are
>> where the bulk of any OS deployment would take place in any government
>> agency.
>>
>> If the government were to adopt Debian (and it should not be a
>> per-agency choice, that's insanity.), vendors and support would appear.
>> That's the nature of free market capitalism, it can adapt to shifting
>> markets and that happens literally all the time with government contract
>> opportunities.
>>
>> Philosophy matters probably more than everything else.
>>
>>
>> Simba Lion - https://tailpuff.net
>> https://keybase.io/simbalion
>>
>> "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"
>> On 10/29/18 8:26 AM, Leam Hall via Ale wrote:
>>> On Mon, Oct 29, 2018 at 8:07 AM Simba via Ale <ale at ale.org
>>> <mailto:ale at ale.org>> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> Philosophy doesn't matter; functionality does.
>>>
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>>
> 

-- 
Allen Beddingfield
Systems Engineer
Office of Information Technology
The University of Alabama
Office 205-348-2251
allen at ua.edu