One of the major problems that some users, especially businesses, have with using Linux is the lack of a formal support system. What this boils down to is that your CTO is not willing to wait for someone to post back on the forums to get an answer. Red Hat bridges that gap by offering subscriptions to their customers that allow them to get the support that is needed without having to rely on the kindness of strangers to get it. This support is matched to the traditional open source ideology that you can make changes to any part of the system at will. This mix allows business users to have the best of both worlds, flexibility and security.