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sgage

Member

Registered: 2016-12-01

Posts: 341  

IBM is acquiring Red Hat!

IBM to Acquire Red Hat for $34 Billion

https://www.thurrott.com/cloud/189796/i … 34-billion

Imagine this headline back in the 90's...

Ron

Member

Registered: 2018-04-22

Posts: 526  

Re: IBM is acquiring Red Hat!

Should we consider this as good news or bad news? Or neutral news?

Last edited by Ron (2018-10-28 19:46:08)

sgage

Member

Registered: 2016-12-01

Posts: 341  

Re: IBM is acquiring Red Hat!

Should we consider this as good news or bad news? Or neutral news?

As a Devuan user, I consider it neutral. Now, if they'd bought out Debian...

ChuangTzu

Member

Registered: 2018-06-13

Posts: 148  

Re: IBM is acquiring Red Hat!

Just corp.'s taking over opensource (which they have been slowly creeping into the last 15 years or so).  Once a company is traded on the stock market anyone can purchase it, same will happen the day (or after) Canonical goes public.  Look how many times SUSE has been kicked around like a can. 

#Support_your_community_distribution. 

siva

Member

Registered: 2018-01-25

Posts: 282  

Re: IBM is acquiring Red Hat!

Calling it now: IBM is going to close-source RHEL software like GNOME and systemd, or invent new, proprietary replacements that serve the same, critical purpose.  PLACE YOUR BETS NOW.

Also, I wonder what this means for the future of Oracle.

Panopticon

Member

Registered: 2018-01-27

Posts: 306  

Re: IBM is acquiring Red Hat!

Should we consider this as good news or bad news? Or neutral news?

As a Devuan user, I consider it neutral. Now, if they'd bought out Debian...

I foresee below headlines in the future...

"Microsoft aquire Debian, vow not to change opensource".

"Github subject to MS Service Agreement"

Last edited by Panopticon (2018-10-29 13:42:23)

sgage

Member

Registered: 2016-12-01

Posts: 341  

Re: IBM is acquiring Red Hat!

Resistance is futile? We will be assimilated?

Altoid

Member

Registered: 2017-05-07

Posts: 1,581  

Re: IBM is acquiring Red Hat!

Hello:

Should we consider this as good news or bad news? Or neutral news?

Really?
Need to ask?

Man, this is a bummer.
Bad, bad, bad news...

Indeed, we are living in interesting times.

Cheers,

A.

cynwulf

Member

Registered: 2017-10-09

Posts: 234  

Re: IBM is acquiring Red Hat!

I think it goes without saying that IBM did not pay billions of dollars for some enterprise Linux distribution they could easily fork and maintain for themselves...  hence why comparisons with Debian are not really relevant (plus Debian is not a company).

Just corp.'s taking over opensource (which they have been slowly creeping into the last 15 years or so).  Once a company is traded on the stock market anyone can purchase it, same will happen the day (or after) Canonical goes public.  Look how many times SUSE has been kicked around like a can.

+1

I just posted at LQ on this same subject.

This move does make IBM/Red Hat one of the biggest donors by far to the Linux kernel. IBM are already "platinum" donors (alongside MS, Intel, google, et al), Red Hat is a "silver" donor. What else does it mean? I honestly have no idea...

But IBM/Red Hat has very little presence in the TAB or board of directors. But of course "money talks" and the project is really not in a position to just ignore those who pay for everything.

Linux has become vital to business, it's as simple as that. The fickle needs of "community" project distributions have become a secondary concern to the real business needs of the likes of google, who put out the most common Linux product by far.

These kind of acquisitions only tell us that the competitive race to get a slice of the Linux pie is heating up. Microsoft have been making their moves, who can say what will follow. But usually these things set off a "domino effect" as competitors rush to keep up. Resting on laurels and simply doing nothing is never enough in today's cut and thrust global market.

There is no telling where this is all going, no way to tell what the impact on "code" will be or the direction of the Linux kernel project going forward. It's likely that your Linux based OS will continue to "just work" going forward.

The MS Windows I am using right now also just works.

We have to consider that SUSE was also "acquired" about 4 times thus far. It went to Micro Focus International a few years ago (the same company who bought Autonomy from HP Enterprise) who sold it on - and it's currently in the hands of a private equity firm (to be sold on yet again of course).

We can't really say for sure what will happen to Red Hat in the future as a result of this. So there is no real guarantee that Red Hat won't be passed around and asset stripped, etc.

Last edited by cynwulf (2018-10-29 14:28:03)

siva

Member

Registered: 2018-01-25

Posts: 282  

Re: IBM is acquiring Red Hat!

It's likely that your Linux based OS will continue to "just work" going forward.
The MS Windows I am using right now also just works.

I appreciated the irony in this couplet.  The trickle-down effect of RHEL on other distros gives me pause for concern.  I imagine groups like this and Gentoo and Slackware will maintain workarounds.  I wonder if other projects, including Debian (which is based on systemd and GNOME3), will "just work" in the same way as Windows.