Red Hat recently released the latest version of their Linux distribution: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (RHEL 6). This is exciting because of the approach Red Hat takes with their Enterprise Linux. They stress stability and reliability over cutting edge features. One way they do this is to lock in to particular versions of software that they provide.
For example, with RHEL 5 they locked to a recent, well-tested version of PHP (5.1.6). During the life the RHEL 5 this has not changed even as newer versions of PHP came out sporting nifty new features (they did add security and bug fixes, however). This meant that you could set up your website on RHEL 5 server and not worry that an update would be released that added (or removed) a feature that changed the way your site behaved. The downside is of course that new features were not available if you wished to take advantage them. Many PHP applications (such as Wordpress) began to require features not available in the RHEL 5 PHP. RHEL 6 locks to much more recent versions of software, allowing you to get new features but retain the benefits of Red Hat’s thorough testing and updating process.
