Ask HN: RHEL vs. Ubuntu and Debian relevance in 2023?

A decade ago, RHEL (and its clone CentOS) was the 800 pound-gorilla in the Linux world. It was synonymous with "serious" Linux and every other distro were considered toys. Everyone was using it for production. Small business who couldn't afford RHEL were mainly using CentOS.

Then the cloud happened, and I stopped paying much attention to the infrastructure field... Now I'm back to it again and several things seem to have changed.

By reading online forums, I have the following impressions:

- It seems that nowadays Ubuntu and Debian have taken the lead, especially in the cloud and in the web development world (where CentOS previously reigned). - New projects in tech companies having a preference for Ubuntu or Debian - As a result of Red Hat killing CentOS (yes, I know about Stream), many business moving to Ubuntu or Debian instead of Rocky or Alma, many people lost trust in Red Hat - RHEL being preferred by big companies not in the tech sector (like banks, finance, healthcare, etc) - CentOS being preferred in the scientific field - RHEL, Alma and Rocky being preferred when used on expensive hardware or needed for specialized proprietary applications - RHEL being preferred by companies who need a corporate support contract - Debian and Ubuntu chosen more frequently when creating VMs in the cloud than RHEL and its derivatives - Industries with regulation (healthcare, finance) preferring RHEL - Ubuntu being more used than Debian

From what I've been reading, it seems like we're transitioning from a past where RHEL/CentOS was everywhere, used for every workload, the default (especially CentOS), to a present where this role is now fulfilled by Ubuntu or Debian; RHEL and its derivatives being relegated to specific needs in specific industries. Debian/Ubuntu as a default, RHEL/Alma/Rocky/CentOS Stream as an exception, only when needed. Like the commercial Unices a decade ago: we used to run CentOS as the default and Solaris or AIX only in exceptional cases where it was needed. Has Ubuntu taken the crown from CentOS as the default OS for most use cases?

Are these views correct? What has been your experience? What are have you been seeing regarding this subject?

Personally, I really like Red Hat's offerings, RHEL and Fedora are my distros of choice. It would be a pity to see its market share dwindle.