The Rails Wheels licencing system and Open Source

[Mark James]

Michael Tiemann wrote:
> Jim Whitehurst, Red Hat's CEO, is quoted as saying:
> 
> *I recognize Red Hat's a prominent alternative to incumbent players, but 
> Red Hat's been around for awhile now, and it's not easy to get off Red 
> Hat. It might be easier to get off RHEL than say, AIX from IBM, but...*
> Whitehurst: It's very simple. You can stop paying us.
> 
> Would that qualify in your mind as a form of optionality of support 
> contracts?  Full reference: 
> http://www.builderau.com.au/news/soa/Interview-Red-Hat-s-new-CEO/0,339028227,339290968,00.htm

Michael, Red Hat subscriptions renewals are indeed optional,
but an initial subscription must be purchased.

In this way Red Hat is similar to some proprietary software
like Microsoft Windows and Unigraphics, which only demand an
up-front payment. But is different to proprietary software that
uses either vendor-hosted or time-sensitive licence servers.

If Red Hat charges the same for initial subscriptions and
subscription renewals, this allows users to drift in and out
of support contracts. This is unlike some vendors who require
continuity in order to avoid the need to repurchase.

Mark