> But when Linus created Linux, he didn’t do it for money, and RH just seems corporate to me like the Microsoft of Linux, way back before Microsoft had their own Linux. I want my Linux free-range not cooped.
You seem to forget that Red Hat has funded a lot of the development of the Linux ecosystem. There would be essentially no modern linux environment without Red Hat.
I'm thankful to RedHat, every other "cornerstone project" seems to be funded by them. The one that crossed my mind now is the PipeWire audio server, it just solved Linux audio for realsies this time.
I wouldn't use their products for much though, too enterprisey. Their projects are great and I'm happy someone else buys their packages.
You seem to forget that Red Hat has funded a lot of the development of the Linux ecosystem. There would be essentially no modern linux environment without Red Hat.