CentOS - Why bother with 'other' platforms

So, this question came up in the lists. Why even bother with other non-upstream-supported platforms. Here is my short, not too verbose answer.

The not-so-simple answer is - because we can. Because there are no support contracts signed with anyone. Because the benefits of a stable platform like CentOS/EL can easily be applied to areas not supported by upstream. Because there are people who want to run CentOS on their hardware.

So there is a lot of value add that happens within the CentOS setup that a lot of people in diverse areas benefit from. And all of this happens without the core distro being changed. eg. its possible to install CentOS-4 on i586 hardware and run it there, even though upstream dont support that. And there really *are* a lot of people using it on i586 hardware.

For a more specific example: a teacher in Scotland[1] was told they could use any OS that the local authority's management software ran on. The school has just recieved a few dozen eeepc's preloaded with windows and rather than have them face issues with [spy,mal,bot,viri]ware he wants to get Linux onto them instead. However, this $ManagementSoftware that he needs to run either runs on Windows of RHEL.... Given that the whole reason for him to look at Linux comes from that fact that they cant afford the added cost of security tools on Windows, I doubt he can afford to pay for RHEL either. CentOS, to me, looks like a perfect fit. So why not ?

And there are many many more such examples, where people are using CentOS in diverse areas, places that would not be supported by upstream policy / code / contracts. Its one of the fantastic things about open source, and the open mentality of Red Hat. Its one of the areas that I dont think they get enough recognition for.

[1]: I have emailed him asking for his permission to quote his name, establishment and $ManagementSoftware. Not had a reply back as yet.

If you are interested, you can follow the thread here

- KB