Differences between the "free" and "paid" versions
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What are the main differences between the free and paid versions of a distribution? I'm talking about those add ons, are they worth at all the money, is there any other way I can ge them?
Thanks
Distribution: Debian, Red Hat, Slackware, Fedora, Ubuntu
Posts: 13,602
Rep:
Usually the main difference is that the paid versions come with support. You usually also get some non-free or proprietary software (secure web server, extra GUI config tools, tweaked X servers, backup software, Oracle, etc). Most of the time you can not get the extra software for free (at least not legally )
Red Hat, for example, immediately went after the Corporate market, where support is basically a required part of the bargain. You pay for RHL, but you get excellent support and updates as part of what you paid for. They have also engineered things to reduce maintenance and upkeep costs for corporations, who might be running many hundreds of RHL servers. So, they were a stock that I bought at their IPO ... ... because I knew they had read their market well and had a sound, sure to be revenue-producing financial model. Which they did.
And, even when a "distro" has a paid option, I generally pay for it. I don't mind doing my tiny part to keep their lights on.
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