[freedomben]

Yes, I agree there's value in decentralization. And to clarify, I don't think there are is anything unethical about offering a RHEL clone like Rocky and Alma do. I think that's a net positive for everyone, even Red Hat. My beef is more with the people that sell support which directly undermines Red Hat and ultimately hurts all eco-system users because it means less development, less QA, etc.

That said market competition in general is a good thing, and I don't doubt for a minute that Red Hat prices would be a lot higher without the competition. It's a complex equation that's impossible to calculate since the inputs are immeasurable and in many cases theoretical.