A disaster of $$$ (Score 1)

Ok, now what happens when a commercial distro ships a basic and a professional version? - Basic - The latest 2.6 deved kernel, no vendor changes - Professional - A vendor stabilized kernel that they charge you $ for - Enterprise - A vendor exetended kernel with all the features for $$$$$$. In all the open source community takes a hit. Branching, and be extension importantly vendor specific extensions, locks a customer into a particular vendor (the amount of testing and resources that an institution will spend in "certifying" a release is extensive). So much for an open platform. Furthermore, individual kernel extensions and stability components become proprietary, thereby reducing the amount of developer exposure and interaction in improving that particular feature.