I prefer Debian, for various
reasons
which I have not necessarily explained nor documented very well.
I just started using Red Hat (7.3) again more extensively, and it is
ok too (although if not for
yum
and the rpm version of apt-get I would strongly consider
ditching it yet again).
But the currently playing out "consumer" vs. "enterprise" version
splitting is indeed concerning. There was some excellent discussion
about this
Beowulf list
in the last few months.
I may have some details wrong, but I think now if you do buy
the "enterprise" Red Hat version, in order to get the support - which
is the only reason to buy that version - you have to sign a license
that says you will not ever install the expensive enterprise
version on machines you haven't bought another license for, nor will
you give to anyone else to do so, etc.
In practice, it is perfectly feasible to download all of Red Hat's
source rpms for their enterprise version (which they make availabe for
download as per the GPL; they do not make the binary packages
available) and compile it yourself. But legally speaking, once you go
down the path of buying the "Red Hat Advanced Server" license and
signing that support contract, you lost that option.
I think.
