Re: Oracle vs. Red Hat?
> they also allowed others (CentOS) to utilize the whole open source aspect as well;
RH didn't actually have much choice there; it ships GPL code, and the GPL explicitly permits obtaining source & rebuilding for any purpose whatsoever.
Where RH is really to be praised is the amount of effort RH engineers put in to helping the various rebuild projects to get the job done. This is *way* beyond what the GPL requires of them.
And it pays dividends; CentOS/Scientific/Whitebox/whatever aren't competition, they are *feeders*. This is, ultimately, where much of RH's business comes from.
> Still, this is something I don't see Oracle do anytime soon.
Oracle doesn't get the choice. This is GPL software.
If Oracle decides to try to stop someone rebuilding the GPL sources they ship - that's the end of Oracle's licence, and there will be no more Oracle Linux...
> I'm convinced that their first reaction to a move like CentOS' would be "We'll sue!!".
That would be interesting. They would both fail (having explicitly licenced exactly that operation) and also have to stop shipping their own Linux product. Oracle's lawyers have done some daft things lately, but I don't think they'd be quite that stupid...