Recent announcements from the likes of Oracle, Microsoft, Novell, and Sun have made me wonder what is it that customers value most in their software vendors. So, pardon me as I step away from purely legal issues this month to talk about the one thing I believe customers value more than anything else in a vendor: trust.
Now some may consider trust somewhat abstract, particularly in this context, but it really isn’t. Webster’s Dictionary defines trust as “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something.” Given that definition, let’s analyze each vendor’s recent announcements to measure trust.
Oracle recently announced that the company is going to release its own Linux distribution, Unbreakable Linux, and compete for support services on Red Hat’s own Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). While the first question you may be inclined to ask is whether Oracle’s action is legal (for the most part, the answer is yes), what you should be asking is whether Oracle can be trusted to do it. Consider:
*Is Oracle building its distribution from scratch, assuring that all of the components are fully-tested and compatible, and confirming that proper open source licenses are in place and compatible? It doesn’t appear so — Oracle intends to merely rebrand Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
*Does Oracle have expertise in all areas of Linux, such that the company will be able to resolve customer problems quickly and accurately? That remains to be seen,…
Please log in to view this content.
Not Yet a Member?
Register with LinuxMagazine.com and get free access to the entire archive, including:
