On Fri, 2005-01-28 at 08:50 -0700, James Mckenzie wrote:
-----Original Message----- From: Paul Howarth <paul@xxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Jan 28, 2005 8:44 AM To: For users of Fedora Core releases <fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: Installing fedora at school
Danial Rehman wrote:
My school is thinking of installing linux on some of the computers, and were wondering if it's legal to use linux for non-private usage. I really didn't get what they meant but something about linux only beeing free if your going to install for yourself and not for a whole school or corporation or whatever.
So I'm wondering if it's allowed to get fedora for about 10 compters at my school the legal way. I always thought linux was free for everyone?
|Linux itself is free for everyone. Some distributions may additionally |include proprietary software that is not free for everyone, but Fedora |is not one of those distributions. You can install it on as many |machines as you like.
One of the things that I would like to point out is that FC is a BETA or testing product. I would not install it to a production or training environment. I would use a more stable distribution in such an environment, such as RHEL.
James McKenzie A Proud User of Linux!
James, I find it stable enough that I use it in production and as a former instructor in Linux I would also use it for education.
The fact that it is "bleeding edge" does not preclude it being stable and usable.
In general, an educational or production environment demands stability and consistency,so the choice of packages needs to be based on the use. Updates should be consistent as well.
I would say go for it, with the reminder that planning is required. A single image of the install should be used so a stable and easily recoverable configuration is available. Tripwire or something equivalent should be used. to monitor for unwanted changes and make it easy to restore if changes are made, but it certainly is viable for education.
We use FC1, FC2 and FC3 in production environments for mail, database (PostgreSQL, MySQL), LDAP, web hosting and streaming. It's stable
enough.
Sure, there are updates for security and such, but I'd rather have a few updates more often (and Linux/Gnu is far more responsive to security issues than "the Redmond gang") and the ability to install on the fly without a bloody reboot than one massive one (can you say SP2?) that requires a system reboot AND breaks lots of the applications as well as introducing MORE security holes.
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