The ups and downs of cloning Red Hat
The bad news for Red Hat is that programmers now routinely produce clones of the company's premium version of Linux. But the company believes it's actually good news.
Stephen Shankland Former Principal Writer
Stephen Shankland worked at CNET from 1998 to 2024 and wrote about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
Expertise Processors, semiconductors, web browsers, quantum computing, supercomputers, AI, 3D printing, drones, computer science, physics, programming, materials science, USB, UWB, Android, digital photography, science. Credentials
- Shankland covered the tech industry for more than 25 years and was a science writer for five years before that. He has deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and more.
The bad news for Red Hat is that programmers now routinely produce clones of the company's premium version of Linux. But the company believes it's actually good news.
CentOS and several other organizations are drafting off Red Hat's work to build a stable version of Linux with long-term support. Red Hat believes the projects can help attract new customers to its own products, but many are perfectly happy the clones and tech support by mailing list and search engines.
News.com will report more on this development Thursday.