[OS:N:] Schools and Licensing concerns

[Johnathan Kupferer <johnathan gnuthought com>]

I'm working with npotechs.org, a Chicago based volunteer group offering 
free software based assistance to area non-profits.  I'm trying to 
figure out which distribution we should use.  I'd say RedHat hands down 
but I'm confused about the licensing issues.  If I understand correctly, 
we can install RH 8.0, but we'll only have support like the RedHat 
Network available for another 9 months (or so) due to the new 12 month 
support cycle.  There's no way I could pitch a 12 month upgrade cycle to 
a school, so where do I go from here?

I guess I need an Enterprise system, but I don't understand what the 
technical difference is between AS, WS, and ES.  Do they all include 
Apache, MySQL, Samba and all that or are the servers not available for 
WS?  Also, where are the ISOs?  Do I have to purchase a support contract 
before I'll have access to the ISOs?  Once I have the ISOs, am I still 
free to install them on as many machines as I want?  Can I support many 
machines on the same subscription?  I'm also worried because I can't 
even find a listing of what packages they include.  (Kernel version? 
Apache 1.3 or 2.0???)  There is also the issue that I can't promote 
something I've never used, and it looks like I'd have to pay $179 just 
to get a few of my questions answered.  (I tried to find the answers on 
RedHat's site, but drowned in a sea of marketing speak).

So this is where I'm stuck.  I don't want to leave RedHat, but I also 
don't want to promote an Enterprise solution that I can't get enough 
info on and have never used...  This is not just an abstract 
philosophical rant.  Next Wednesday I'll go to a school thats looking to 
migrate to linux and I'll have to tell them 8.0's life cycle is too 
short and I don't know enough about the Enterprise solutions to suggest 
it (and it may cost too much if we have to pay per-seat licensing).

- Johnathan

--
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

   - Benjamin Franklin