[that_guy_iain]

I read messages like this and it always seems like folk think Red Hat are missing out because people aren't using a free competitor.

What I think this change will make happen, 80-95% of the companies using CentOS or Rocky stop using RHEL based linux distros. But the rest start paying Red Hat. Those who moved away were never going to buy anyways so why should Red Hat care if they don't use a free competitor that used their work?

[ROTMetro]

There's two ways to increase business income, extract more $$$ from a captured user base or create value to attract revenue. One is a sign of a healthy company looking at future growth, the other the sign of a zombie company that has to put a tighter squeeze on you quarter after quarter to keep their numbers up. The people making purchasing/vendor decisions take into consideration the risk of going with a 'zombie' company, so those that do pay are also likely to consider moving away as well.

[that_guy_iain]

"Zombie company" is a weird way to describe a profitable company. How many people are going to say "You know what, this solves my problem really well but I am scared they're not going to solve future problems?" Especially in the sector that Red Hat are in, a world where there is a famous quote of "No one gets fired for buying IBM".

IBM/Red Hat are not in the cycle where they create new products and create value that way, they're in the business of buying things and increasing their market share that way. And have been for quite some time.