Although we think so, not all Linux is free. And Red Hat is a clear example of this. This company is responsible for one of the most stable and reliable Linux distros for professional and business use that we can find, although to use it we will have to pay the company periodically. In return, the company also offers us first-hand, personalized support. Times change, and companies must evolve. And therefore, very soon we will be able to see a version of RHEL, Red Hat Enterprise Linux , totally free.
Until a few weeks ago there was already a free version of Red Hat called CentOS. This distro is based on RHEL , but is maintained by the community, so it is an outstanding option for all those users who do not want or can not pay the license to use the company. The development of this distro went hand in hand with that of Red Hat, applying the same patches that were released for it. However, it is seen that the company got tired of this distro and decided to make it more useful, at least for them. And starting this year, CentOS is going to become a bottom-up development arm for RHEL. I mean, the Red Hat guinea pigs .
This decision has caused quite a stir on the web and in the community. And that has made those responsible for RHEL think about offering an alternative to CentOS since it has “hijacked” said distro. And what better way to do that than by allowing those who cannot afford the license to use RHEL.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux free
Starting on February 1 of this year (that is, in just over a week), users will be able to download and install Red Hat completely free of charge. No cheating or fine print. Whether we are home users, a small business or a small group of developers, RHEL will be free for us. All we have to do is register on the Red Hat network to download the distro and automatically start receiving updates.
The only thing we will see in this free Red Hat is that, within the subscription panel, we will have a button to pay for the version with full system support. Thanks to this movement, RHEL will be able to reach a greater number of companies and users, and there will be much more possibility that, in the end, they will get on the bandwagon of paid support that allows us to use the software indefinitely.
RHEL free is the destination of CentOS users
What about all the users who still use CentOS ? Until recently, this was the free version of Red Hat, a very stable system full of changes and improvements of all kinds. Its excellent documentation, great support and solidification made it one of the most used distros on servers, along with Ubuntu. What will happen now?
Red Hat has admitted that it understands the situation and has reported that it is working on a series of tools that will allow us to migrate our distro very easily to the new free system. The company will release more information on this in mid-February.