Fedora & RedHat, should I be concerned?
Fedora & RedHat, should I be concerned?
I'm not super tech savvy or familiar with the linux world much, nor do I know anything about the drama behind these things, so please bear with me.
Heard a lot of bad things about RedHat and vaguely know that they have a lot of influence over Fedora and things like Wayland, which I'm planning to make my main OS sometime soon. How concerned should I be in the long term if I settle with Fedora? Don't wanna constantly distro hop anymore, Fedora is the closest thing to my needs for now.
While Red Hat does a lot to enable Fedora (and the Linux ecosystem in general), Fedora remains a community distro. It just happens to receive significant backing. Which, one might argue, isn't a lot different to how SuSE backs openSUSE. Heck, while (arguably) in a different order of magnitude, Canonical contributes to Debian and even Valve contributes to Arch.
But, to underline an important aspect to the RedHat-Fedora relationship, Fedora does not have to follow Red Hat in everything. Like how Fedora continues to default to Btrfs as its filesystem while Red Hat has deprecated Btrfs for 7 years now.
Yet, I don't want to underscore that both Arch and Debian can probably easily keep the lights on if any contributing party would cease its support. On the other hand, if Red Hat or SuSe would stop contributing to Fedora or openSUSE respectively, then it would at least require a huge restructuring for them to have a chance at surviving the aftermath. So, in that sense, both Fedora and openSUSE are dependent on their respective big backers.
As for concerns related to Red Hat, they did like two bad things (I think) that go against the spirit of open source sortware. But these pale to their contributions. With PipeWire, systemd and Wayland; they've literally built the backbone of modern Linux. Boycotting them will likely result in picking some niche Linux that might be a huge pita to operate.
If you're interested in a deep dive, then consider looking into this thread and the links found within.
Really appreciate the in-depth explanation, thx! I'll take a look at the links then.
So with all of this considered, do you personally think it's safe to go with Fedora long term? Even in a worst case scenario? And if not then what else should be considered for me?
I also am curious about Fedora's whole "leading edge" thing, do they push for new technologies even when it'll cause issues or are they careful with it?
Really appreciate the in-depth explanation, thx!
It has been my pleasure, fam! Note that my answers found below are often oversimplified and/or kept short for the sake of brevity. Please feel free to ask me in case you'd like me to elaborate on any of the topics discussed below or otherwise.
So with all of this considered, do you personally think it’s safe to go with Fedora long term?
First of all, I have to make clear that I've been a Fedora user ever since I (cold turkey) made the switch from W10 over three years ago. And any of the 'scandals' that have happened since^[Which should be just one, the other one was committed before I started to use Fedora.] hasn't swayed me away from it (yet). So, I'm probably biased in my views. Or, at least don't equally value the very same things that have led detractors to look elsewhere.
With that out of the way..., you should ultimately make up your own mind. What is it that has drawn you into Fedora in the first place?
Even in a worst case scenario?
I suppose the worst case scenario would be that Fedora somehow ceased to exist and erecting a fork didn't turn out to be a productive endeavor either. But I suppose most technologies come with some risks attached to their long-time survival. Yet, this doesn't necessarily deter us from trying them out whenever they happen to be a good option at the very moment they're considered.
Regardless, it is statistically unlikely you will stick to your first distro in the long run. So, I suppose you don't have to overthink it; if it satisfies your needs at the moment, then it's good to give it a go 😉.
And if not then what else should be considered for me?
Again, I don't know exactly what drew you to Fedora in the first place. So, please consider to shed some light on that 😉. Afterwards, I can try to fill in my thoughts 🙂.
I also am curious about Fedora’s whole “leading edge” thing, do they push for new technologies even when it’ll cause issues or are they careful with it?
Historically-speaking, Fedora used to be pretty ruthless 🤣. One might argue that they forced their users to test the new and upcoming technologies long before they were ready. This has caused their community to feel alienated and not respected. In turn, Fedora's user base became mostly comprised of (relative) Linux-experts (with Stockholm syndrome 😜) that could deal with these issues.
Thankfully, though, Fedora seems to have learned from their past mistakes. For the last couple of years, earth-shattering changes have not been introduced. Sure, Fedora continues to be forward-thinking and the first to introduce changes that might be considered drastic. Yet, it's handled in a respectful way towards its users.
Unsurprisingly, this has even translated to a (relative) uptake of their user base. Heck, Fedora -at least for some- fills the very space that Ubuntu used to dominate. All in all, Fedora seems to have changed their ways for the better. As such, the concerns seem to have become (slightly) out of place; unless Fedora is legally forced, you should expect a very sane, 'stable' and reliable experience.
You found something that works for you. keep using it until it doesn't.
You should. Give OpenSUSE Tumbleweed a try. It's about as leading-edge as Fedora, but without the Red Hat baggage.
SUSE, the enterprise behind OpenSUSE, has scarcely any controversies behind it. It is also EU-based.
Plus tumbleweed works pretty well. That's my daily driver distro.
Fedora forces new not ready beta technologies to stay the most innovative distro no matter what. That's basically all you need to know.