Comment by happyjack | Hacker News Reader

Comment by happyjack | Hacker News Reader

I have a legitimate question. How big is "desktop" Linux to RHEL (or Ubuntu, etc.) bottom line?

I ran RHEL 7 and 8 workstation when I used to work in engineering / science (not development or comp sci.) and used specialty simulation software and did a lot of Windows emulation via Virtualbox and programming in Octave and Mathematica. I really did enjoy RHEL workstation, and GNOME was a good daily driver. Lot of packages for RHEL (especially with rpm fusion + fusion tainted), although some can be very old. I used it for my 9-5, and even ran a laptop with CentOS. Without the need for specialty simulators, I've converted to the Apple world, though.

Server subscriptions pays the bills for RHEL (governments, banks, large companies, etc.). Is there a real market for "workstation?" Do they development a graphical OS as a community project? Anyone know the future of it? Are there enough paying customers at Universities and defense contractors using workstation that justify development of GNOME, Evolution, graphical programs, etc.?

Would love to hear people's thoughts.

I have no insider info, this is just what I think.

The Linux desktop is Red Hat's complement in the sense of commoditizing their complement. They don't actually care about it as such, but it needs to exist and they want it to be dirt cheap and highly available so it will drive customers to the products they do care about. Without it, they're just selling a grab bag of server/CLI/web-based tools that require a fleet of Windows or Mac desktops to manage, a very different value proposition to being a complete IT solution.

Mirrors the previous comment. Makes sense to invest in Workstation and help it sell to the big boys and show that they have "full service" solutions.

One thing RHEL's GUI does is make RHEL more real in the minds of prospective purchasers of RHEL server licenses.

Windows has a big advantage: the prospect has probably personally used the product. Although Red Hat's attempt to replicate that advantage has failed (i.e., the vast majority of IT executives still run Windows on their personal computers), it remains the case that it is advantageous if the RHEL salesman can pull out a laptop running RHEL and show it to the prospect. "Show, don't tell," I believe is a saying among salesmen.

Also, if the salesman's laptop is running RHEL, that is an costly signal to the prospect that Red Hat believes in its product enough to use it to support the IT needs of its salesmen. It is more persuasive than having the saleman tell the prospect, "Yes, my laptop runs Windows, admittedly, but it is communicating with a RHEL server, where all the data I need for my job is actually kept."

Summary: desktop RHEL helps sell server RHEL.

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