SUSE takes a stand for the open-source community, announces free RHEL fork to preserve choice in enterprise Linux. A $10+ million investment reinforces commitment to innovation and supporting SUSE Linux Enterprise distributions.
Leading enterprise open source solutions provider SUSE, has made a bold decision to fork Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). It’s a move that’s all about giving users more choices and driving innovation in the Linux world. What this means, is that SUSE will create and take care of a RHEL-compatible version that anyone can use, with no limitations. And to make this happen, SUSE has pledged to invest over $10 million in this project.
The decision to fork RHEL is rooted in SUSE’s unwavering commitment to fostering an open source community built on collaboration and shared success. Dirk-Peter van Leeuwen, CEO of SUSE, emphasized the company’s responsibility to uphold these values. He stated, “For decades, collaboration and shared success have been the building blocks of our open source community. We have a responsibility to defend these values. This investment will preserve the flow of innovation for years to come and ensures that customers and community alike are not subjected to vendor lock-in and have genuine choice tomorrow as well as today.”
While SUSE remains fully committed to their highly regarded Linux solutions like SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE) and openSUSE, they recognize the importance of providing enterprises and the open source community with the freedom to choose their preferred Linux environment. SUSE has a proven track record of empowering users in mixed Linux environments, and this initiative further underscores its commitment to offering choice and freedom.
SUSE is determined to collaborate with the open source community to develop a long-term, RHEL-compatible alternative. They plan to contribute this project to an open-source foundation, ensuring free access to the alternative source code for everyone involved.
Dr. Thomas Di Giacomo, Chief Technology and Product Officer at SUSE, emphasized the company’s belief. According to him, “This collaborative effort demonstrates SUSE’s deep-rooted commitment to fostering innovation and nurturing community-driven development, and it reinforces the fundamental values of open source software. We invite the community to actively engage and collaborate in shaping the future of this essential software. We firmly believe this new RHEL-compatible Linux distribution, together with SUSE’s portfolio, will help the community and customers navigate unprecedented advancements in enterprise Linux, cloud computing, containerization, edge, AI/ML and other emerging technologies.”
The industry has shown its support for SUSE’s decision, with Gregory Kurtzer, CEO of CIQ and Founder of Rocky Linux, stressing the importance of standardization, stability, and consistency within the enterprise Linux community. He enthused, “SUSE has embodied the core principles and spirit of open source; CIQ is thrilled to collaborate with SUSE on advancing an open enterprise Linux standard.”
CIQ is thrilled to collaborate with SUSE on advancing an open enterprise Linux standard.
By investing in forking RHEL, SUSE reaffirms its commitment to providing open-source solutions that enable customers to tackle current innovation challenges while ensuring the freedom to adapt their strategies and solutions in the future.
