[raverbashing]

> you could also maintain / fork it

That's true. However, for the majority of cases, it's not worth it.

You theoretically could have an old version of Red Hat running and then self-support there, but I believe the answer is probably something similar to what would be done with Windows XP. Even if what you need to run there is Free Software. Easier and probably more feasible, true. Still, very unlikely.

The last option you pointed out is a possibility as well and it happens, however it's usually a way of throwing a lot of money for very little gain