Oracle Corp. on Oct. 25 announced that it would provide the same enterprise class support for Linux as it provides for its database, middleware, and applications products. Essentially, this means that Oracle, after removing Red Hat trademarks, will be distributing Oracle Unbreakable Linux, derived from Red Hat's open-source Linux technology.

Oracle, however, claims that it is merely “supporting” Unbreakable Linux, which is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Other, far smaller companies, such as CentOS and White Box Enterprise Linux, have taken Red Hat's code, removed the Red Hat trademarks, and spun their own Linux distributions from it. No major business, until now, though, has made such a move.

The database giant claims that Red Hat only provides bug fixes for the latest version of its software. Thus, Oracle executives say, this often requires customers to upgrade to a new version of Linux software to get a bug fixed. Oracle's new Unbreakable Linux program, on the other hand, will provide bug fixes to future, current, and back releases of Linux. In other words, Oracle will provide the same level of enterprise support for Linux as is available for other operating systems.

Additionally, Oracle is offering its Unbreakable Linux program for substantially less than Red Hat currently charges for its best support.

Read the complete story by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols at our sister site, Linux Watch:

 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.