> At the risk of repeating myself... I refer you to Red Hat's 10-K > filing: > > http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1087423/000119312513173724/d484576d10k.htm#tx484576_1 > > See the "Competition" section on pages 12-14. Search for "Oracle" and > "CentOS". > > So when I say, "Red Hat considers CentOS a competitor", that is a > demonstrable statement of fact, appearing in an authoritative > document > where lies can result in prison sentences. (Unsurprisingly, the > "mission statement" you keep citing appears nowhere in this document. > When choosing between "words" and "legally binding words", which to > believe? Hm, hard to say...)
Then mention Centos and Fedora are at the end of paragraphs stating "we also", meaning they (at least at this time) is not considered a significant competitor relative to others mentioned. Also, you need to read the entire document. For example, they also list Fedora as something they compete with, but if you search for Fedora in that document you will also notice sections like: Red Hat’s role in the open source community We are an active contributor in many open source communities, often in a leadership role. Red Hat’s participation in the open source development process is illustrated by our sponsorship of the Fedora Project, JBoss.org, GlusterFS and other open source communities. This participation enables us to leverage the efforts of these worldwide communities, which we believe allows us to reduce both development cost and time and enhance acceptance and support of our offerings and technologies. Thus, we are able to use the Fedora Project, JBoss.org and other open source communities as proving grounds and virtual laboratories for innovations that we can draw upon for inclusion in our enterprise offerings and technologies. Additionally, the open and transparent nature of these communities provides our customers and potential customers with access and insights into, and the ability to influence, the future direction of Red Hat offerings and technologies. We are dedicated to helping serve the interests and needs of open source software users and developers online. Our websites, which include redhat.com, fedoraproject.org, jboss.org, opensource.com and gluster.org, serve as substantial resources for information related to open source initiatives and our open source offerings. These websites contain news we believe to be of interest to open source users and developers, features for the open source community, a commerce site and a point-of-access for software downloads and upgrades. Visitors to our websites can organize and participate in user groups, make available fixes and enhancements and share knowledge regarding the use and development of open source software and methods. By acting as a publisher of open source information and by facilitating the interaction of users and developers, particularly through the Fedora and JBoss.org projects, we believe our websites have become community centers for open source. Additionally, redhat.com serves as a primary customer interface, web store and order mechanism for many of our offerings. Future versions will likely mention Centos as they do Fedora in terms of being an active contributor.
