You mean with commercial Linux for the desktop? Suse and Lindows are both taking a stab at that market. I can't imagine that RH wants to ignore that market completely. It is that market that promises a tremendous growth opportunity. The server market though still growing is starting to mature. I imagine that in the next 2-4 years we should see the server growth slowly decreasing while the desktop market will continue to show increasing growth. That is if it is possible to determine what the real growth of Linux on desktops is. -Chris On Thu, 2003-10-02 at 07:48, David Holden wrote: > On Wednesday 01 Oct 2003 5:51 pm, Buck wrote: > > Red Hat does not have to charge their prices to stay solvent. Their > > only business need is to increase productivity and profit. It is now a > > publicly traded company and has a responsibility to the stock holders > > (whether or not I like it). As for losing business, there are many > > times in which losing customers is more profitable than keeping them. I > > started my home based business servicing home computers on-site at a low > > rate. After a while, I was constantly driving, working or talking on > > the phone. I eventually tripled my rates, dropped most of my home > > support and retained 3 commercial customers. Even though I lost my one > > biggest account, I only needed to work about 1 or two days a week and my > > "keep" pay was the same as when I was busting my @$$ all week long. > > Likewise, Red Hat is probably catering to their "million-dollar" > > accounts that require less overhead to service and dropping their > > customers that might be making a profit, but costs them more to service > > and support. Sure, they may lose 25% of their "business" but what > > remains will be much more profitable leaving them with more time and > > resources to service their contracts, improve their product and work > > with Fedora. > > > > Well, that's my $.02 (or less) worth. > > > > Really, it's just business. > > > > Buck > > > All of the above makes sense but leaves the question if redhat only wants the > niche market of higher margin enterprise customers what fils the gap for the > rest, currently its largely microsoft... > > Dave. > > > "Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us." - Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas
