Open Source Weblog

Red Hat also ranked highest based on the percentage of ‘excellent’ ratings, with 30.4%, while Oracle was the second worst vendor based on the percentage of ‘poor’ ratings, with 16.9%. All of which undermines Oracle’s argument about providing better support,= somewhat.

The really significant statistic, in the context of Oracle’s Unbreakable Linux announcement, is as follows:

Asked if they would continue to do business with their vendor if they had a choice, 97.0% of Red Hat customers answered ‘yes’, the highest percentage of any vendor. In contrast 25.9% of Oracle’s customers said ‘no’, making it the ninth most likely to lose customers.

Now that Oracle is offering support for practically the same product, as opposed to an alternative product, that customer loyalty is bound to be tested. The open source model means that while Red Hat is seen as a technology company, it is actually a pure services business.

Support is how Red Hat makes its money, and support – rather than technology lock-in – is how it retains its customers. It could be argued that Unbreakable Linux is the first real test of this model, and if Red Hat’s customers are as loyal as they say they are, the company could actually emerge much stronger from this situation.

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