Let’s talk about the big name Linux companies: IBM, Oracle, and Sun. Eh? What’s that you say? Those aren’t the top Linux companies? Think again.
Sure, Red Hat, Mandrake, Caldera, SuSE, et al. are still around, but take a closer look and I think you’ll find that it’s the big old companies that are calling the shots these days.
Take UnitedLinux, for example. On the surface, it’s a good idea. Heck, it’s a great idea. Caldera, Conectiva, SuSE, and Turbolinux joined together to create UnitedLinux, a single, global, uniform business server distribution of Linux.
UnitedLinux gets rid of a lot of duplication of effort. How many Linux distributions do we really need anyway? Independent software vendors (ISVs) and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) love UnitedLinux because they can build business software and hardware for only two major Linuxes (Red Hat and UnitedLinux) and have the Linux business server market covered. And, who (outside of Caldera, Conectiva, SuSE, and TurboLinux) supported — and I’m told encouraged — this unification of Linux distributions? IBM, of course. Moreover, if you look at the ISVs who joined in the chorus of applause, you’ll find companies like Borland, Computer Associates, Progress, and SAP who are all very comfortable with IBM. Will UnitedLinux help its four charter members? You bet it will. But, if anything, UnitedLinux will probably help IBM’s and IBM’s ISV friends’ bottom lines even more.
On the other side, what do…
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