I have started using Linux recently and have been enjoying the open-source nature of it. I was browsing a website called [distrowatch.com](http://distrowatch.com) that has hundreds of Linux distros. All of them are free to use (ubuntu, debian, Kali, Quebes, Tails, etc.) How are they maintained if it doesn’t cost anything to download and install them?
Thank you.
In: Technology
You’ve got a few types of distros with different models:
1. Community distros like Arch or Debian – maintained almost entirely by volunteers. Propped up financially by donations.
2. The ‘adjacent products/support’ distros like Ubuntu and Fedora – These are maintained by companies and the free version is usually there, at least in a small part, to entice you into their paid offerings – usually a support package but can also be cloud services or, in the case of RedHat/Fedora, another distro.
3. The ‘pay up front’ distros like Red Hat Enterprise Linux. This should be self explanatory. The distro is maintained by a company. You pay either a one-off or recurring fee to use it.
Latest Answers