What's the diff?

[Tsarevich]

Whats's the difference between the following distros?

1. RedHat and RHEL
2. SuSE and openSUSE
3. Linspire and Freespire?

Why do people prefer the purchased version on the download version of the free one? What makes them different?

[Roxoff]

The purchased one comes with support. Businesses like this, it gives them predictable fix times when things don't work right (yeah, I know this is garbage - but as the IT Idiot here at work says - 'I get someone to shout at').

[ennoil]

The above is correct but also the free versions tend to have more "cutting edge" apps than their paid for counterparts. In the business world stability is much more important than cutting edge. Applications also receive wider and more indepth testing to ensure they will stand up in an enterprise environment.

[techieMoe]

Whats's the difference between the following distros?

1. RedHat and RHEL

There is none. Redhat (the company) distributes one product: Redhat Enterprise Linux, otherwise known as RHEL. The distribution formerly known as Redhat was discontinued several years ago. Any non-commercial distribution work was shifted off to the Fedora project.

2. SuSE and openSUSE

Again, there is no difference because SuSE by itself no longer exists. openSuSE is the free community product (similar to Fedora), whereas Novell now sells the commercial SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop, otherwise known as SLED.

3. Linspire and Freespire?

Not a whole lot. You get a membership in the Click N Run warehouse when you purchase Linspire, but that's about the extent of it. Both distributions offer the same multimedia playback support.

Why do people prefer the purchased version on the download version of the free one? What makes them different?

Different people find different things valuable. I purchased SuSE 9.1, 9.2, and 9.3 from a retail store for roughly $49.99USD a piece. Why? I liked the professionally-printed discs, the helpful manuals, and the fact that I didn't have to spend time downloading a 2 DVD/5 CDROM set of discs. I also appreciated the idea that I was supporting a distribution I enjoyed.

When it comes to business distributions like SLED and RHEL, people pay for support first and foremost. If you sign a contract with Redhat or Novell, it comes with a guarantee that your IT department will have someone they can call to fix bugs, issue patches, and help configure your systems. That's something that is simply not available with most free distributions because it costs money to staff those support folks.

[Roxoff]

The above is correct but also the free versions tend to have more "cutting edge" apps than their paid for counterparts. In the business world stability is much more important than cutting edge. Applications also receive wider and more indepth testing to ensure they will stand up in an enterprise environment.

Yeah, that too...

It's not so important for a company to have the latest version of mplayer or xmms installed on its web server.

[LinuxZealot]

Asking which one is better here is like asking a preist a rabbi and a bhuddist monk who's got the better religion, or asking a biker and a motorhead weather you should buy a sports car or a motorcycle. My best suggestion is research on your own looking for features that you desire in your operating system along the lines of work (or play) that you intend on using your machine for. Each of these distros has a website, and many of these websites provide short comparisons. Or, if your feeling bold. try them out for yourself. the best way to learn is to DO!

[apoorv_khurasia]

The purchased one comes with support. Businesses like this, it gives them predictable fix times when things don't work right (yeah, I know this is garbage - but as the IT Idiot here at work says - 'I get someone to shout at').

Its not totally garbage, you see. If I were running a business, I need people who can take responsibility for their product. Since most Linux cos are not good at this stuff it is not too difficult for cos like IBM or Microsoft to market their stuff (you have to acknowledge MS is pretty good with support). Redhat also provides good support.

P.S.:- Take Responsibility (Hunt & Thomas in The Pragmatic Programmer)