Re:Cracks are showing in Enterprise Open Source's foundations
by dralley on Thursday January 28, 2021 @03:05PM
(#25948243)
>I would argue that compensating developers for building software is the wrong way to look at it. IBM (and possibly Red Hat?) are mostly consulting companies---the development work they pay for is in support of their consulting.
Red Hat is not a consulting company. According to the Q1 FY2020 financial statements, "Subscription revenue in the quarter was 87% of total revenue." which means consulting is somewhere in that leftover 13% (categorized as "services").
What you perhaps mean, is that the number of kernel developers, gcc developers, glibc developers, (and so on) they have on staff is a benefit in terms of providing good support. In that sense, if a customer has an issue and need support, the "development work" does benefit the ability to provide that service. I wouldn't call that consulting though.
Red Hat is not a consulting company. According to the Q1 FY2020 financial statements, "Subscription revenue in the quarter was 87% of total revenue." which means consulting is somewhere in that leftover 13% (categorized as "services").
What you perhaps mean, is that the number of kernel developers, gcc developers, glibc developers, (and so on) they have on staff is a benefit in terms of providing good support. In that sense, if a customer has an issue and need support, the "development work" does benefit the ability to provide that service. I wouldn't call that consulting though.