>Оригинал статьи:

If you think that calling RHEL “proprietary” is just a figure of speech, think again. While Red Hat may tolerate CentOS and other cloners (provided that they strip out Red Hat trademarks), it does not approve of customers who want to use genuine RHEL without paying for it. A recent Red Hat marketing newsletter sternly instructs Red Hat channel partners that customers who choose not to renew their RHEL subscriptions “must de-install Red Hat Enterprise Linux software from the servers with the expired subscriptions”. GPL fans will point out that this injunction is mere table-pounding intimidation that has no legal force, but that’s beside the point. As far as Red Hat is concerned, no one is entitled to use RHEL without paying for it, and they’re not shy about letting people know where they stand.

Ну и bullshit.
http://www.redhat.com/rhel/renew/faqs/

6. If I don't renew, can I continue to use the software?

Yes, under the General Public License (GPL), you may continue to use Red Hat software. However, for as long as you have any active subscriptions within your organization, you are also bound by the terms of the Red Hat Enterprise Agreement. This agreement requires that as long as you have an active subscription, you are required to purchase a subscription for each system on which you are running Red Hat Enterprise Linux or JBoss Enterprise Middleware. If you have no active subscriptions, you may still continue to use the software, but you will no longer receive:

Software access: Access to the latest versions of Red Hat software that have been certified by thousands of independent software and hardware vendors.
Software maintenance: Access to updates, upgrades, corrections, and bug fixes for the software.
Security: Rapid response to potential software security issues.
Production support: Access to Red Hat technical support.
Open source assurance: Participation in Red Hat's intellectual property assurance program.

Читателям сего опуса, рекомендуется поглядеть на остальные статьи "аналитика"
Jeff'а Gould'а, по заголовкам которых можно с высокой степенью вероятности предположить, что они являются графоманским высером.