Welcome to Pink Tie Linux
Thanks for stopping by to see what Pink Tie Linux is all about. In a nutshell, Pink Tie Linux is a nearly 100% workalike of Red Hat© Enterprise Linux, but without the high cost. One of the best ways to think of it is you can go to your local grocery store and purchase Heinz© Ketchup at a premium price or your can purchase Catsup for less. Both provide the same taste and functionality. It is just that one, and only one, can be called Ketchup. On this site, you will find information about Pink Tie Linux as well as where to purchase or download this significant Linux distribution.
The Pink Tie Linux Story
- The story starts a few years ago when Red Hat© first changed their EULA (End User License Agreement).
Prior to Red Hat© becoming a publicly traded company, they actively encouraged the redistribution of
their software as Red Hat©. The software was freely downloadable and freely redistributable under the
name of Red Hat©. Many companies resold versions of Red Hat© Linux. This benefitted Red Hat© by
increasing their market share and effectively, providing free advertising for Red Hat©.
- Once Red Hat© became a publicly traded company, their policies in relation to their EULA changed. At
first, copies of their software could be redistributed without modification, provided the name Red Hat©
was in a smaller font size. This continued for a couple of versions. At a later point, the EULA
indicated their software couldn't be redistributed at all unless references to Red Hat© Linux in the
software itself were removed. In other words, it was no longer possible to download Red Hat© Linux
as-is and redistribute it.
- The Linux community was not very pleased about this event. While the software on which Red Hat© Linux
is based is still freely distributable under the GPL, the use of the Red Hat© name isn't allowed by other companies
on non-official releases of Red Hat© Linux. The end result is Red Hat© has effectively prevented
redistribution of the Red Hat© Linux distribution. It can be argued that Red Hat© has made many contributions
to the Linux community. But it can also be argued Red Hat©'s business practices don't reflect the spirit
of the GPL. Reviewing copyright law shows their is rationale in Red Hat©'s decision to protect the use
of their name. All of this has been discussed ad nauseum in various newsgroups.
- Because of the discussed events, Pink Tie Linux was created. Pink Tie Linux has been built from the Red Hat© Enterprise Linux source files and contains modifications to replace references to the name Red Hat© Linux with references to Pink Tie Linux. These modifications allow Pink Tie Linux to be freely distributable. The final Pink Tie Linux product has the minimal number of modifications to abide by the Red Hat© EULA, but still acts like Red Hat© Linux when installed. In other words, it is nearly a 100% Red Hat© Linux workalike Linux distribution that is freely redistributable.
Why is Pink Tie Special?
Pink Tie is special in that, it isn't special. Huh? Pink Tie was developed to be as close to Red Hat© Enterprise Linux as possible with as few changes as possible to be freely distributable. One key difference is that the many Red Hat© updates have been applied to the Pink Tie distribution, so that Pink Tie is actually more current than Red Hat© Enterprise Linux.
Supporting the Project
The easiest way to support the project is to use Pink Tie Linux and let your colleagues know about it. It is freely distributable, so you can pass it along to others.
To support the project from a monetary standpoint, you can purchase the distribution directly or from one of the resellers supporting the project.
Obtaining Pink Tie Linux
You can either purchase Pink Tie Linux or download it. The distribution is freely distributable. At this time, we are working on getting mirror sites to offer the distribution. If you need the distribution immediately, it is being shipped and is available to order immediately.
Versions available are the Workstation (WS). We will be releasing AS and ES shortly. You will find 3 Workstation types. Install CD Set Only, Install and Source CDs and Install and Source DVDs.