Linux, Oracle wants to make shoes for Red Hat

Redwood Shores (USA) – Oracle has just launched a new support program for Red Hat Linux, Unbreakable Linux 2.0, which includes competitively priced support services and self-development of security updates. For Red Hat, which has been a partner of the database giant for years, Oracle’s announcement amounts to a punch in the stomach.

With the new program, Oracle is determined to divert its (former?) Red Hat partner’s current customers to its own support services, a business on which the entire economy of the red hat company rests. The giant led by Larry Ellison also announced that it will leverage the GPL license for take the Red Hat Linux code and redistribute it under your own brand . Oracle’s stated goal is to become independent of Red Hat for the development and distribution of security patches.

“Oracle is offering its Unbreakable Linux program at a price significantly lower than that Red Hat asks for its support services,” said an Oracle release. “We believe this can serve to accelerate the deployment of Linux. At the same time, we think it is important not to fragment the market: for this reason we will maintain compatibility with Red Hat Linux ”.

Red Hat’s reaction is predictable , which in red-hot words accused Oracle of wanting to fork its Linux enterprise without first evaluating the “potentially catastrophic” effects for its customers. Red Hat has in fact said plainly that your hardware certifications are only valid for the original version of your distribution : any changes made by third parties, in fact, “may affect compatibility with hardware and applications certified for Red Hat Enterprise Linux”.

Oracle’s announcement it has already negatively impacted Red Hat’s stock value , which last Thursday fell by almost 25%. Despite this, the red hat company said it does not intend to adjust the prices of its services.