[dralley]

Because CentOS had been languishing, with releases and security fixes taking longer and longer, and the thought at the time was that since CentOS was seen as the entry point to Red Hat Enterprise Linux, it might be leaving a bad impression with potential future customers.

The thinking behind CentOS Stream is different. The idea was not to kill off a free competitor (those were always going to exist, and projects like Rocky and Alma forming was inevitable, and this was obvious). The idea was to create a real community where previously there was not much of one. CentOS was the Android-style "throw it over the wall" model of open source. About the most you could do as an outsider to contribute was file tickets on Bugzilla and package for EPEL. Whereas CentOS Stream provides a place for people to contribute to future versions of RHEL, and therefore, RHEL clones like Rocky and Alma.

So Rocky Linux devs and users, Alma Linux devs and users, CentOS devs and users, Facebook employees (they use CentOS Stream internally), Oracle Linux devs, and whoever else can make and review contributions, which is a more symbiotic relationship than existed before.