Linux Magazine’s Top 20 Companies to Watch in 2008
Who knows what the future will hold? Well, heaven knows we don’t or we’d have already won the lottery a few times and retired to a private island somewhere. However, we can look at the past to make a few reasonable predictions– such as the companies in the free and open source software community that are going to have a major impact on the market in 2008.
Thursday, January 10th, 2008
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Mozilla Corporation
Mozilla isn’t quite like any of the other companies on the list– but, technically, the Mozilla Corporation (which owns the non-profit Mozilla Foundation) is a for-profit venture, even if its goal is simply to advance Firefox and other FOSS projects.
With Firefox 3.0 on the horizon, we think that the MozCorp folks are important to watch for a couple of reasons. First, because Firefox has been, slowly but surely, increasing its market share over the past few years.
Second because Web applications are becoming increasingly important for users and Firefox is at the forefront of enabling more elegant Web applications. Specifically, the work on offline applications that has gone into Firefox 3.0 is likely to be very important to vendors producing Web applications– and important to the users of those apps.
The decision in 2007 to form a company behind Thunderbird, dubbed” MailCo” as of this writing, also looms large in our decision to tap MozCorp as a player for 2008. While we like Thunderbird, we think that the mail client was something of a distraction for MozCorp, and Firefox is more than enough to keep an organization busy.
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8 Comments 
Surprised to see that there is no Novell (distributor of SuSe flavor) in the list. Any specific reason? or just for not funding FOSS?
if funding is the only reason why would MS be in the top 20?
An interesting, important list. Thanks Linux.
@dsailesh
The FOSS community is pissed since Novell signed a patent agreement with Microsoft and novell pays Microsoft for every Linux box sold. Its the FOSS developers who hardwork Novell sold out.
Richard stallman, Bruce Perens, Samba team, FSF has called a Novell a sellout.
Many hardcore FOSS developers have boycotted Novell version of Linux.
Check out : http://boycottnovell.com
Novell the next SCO :
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/07/perens_on_ms_novell/
You can find more ugly details of the deal here :
http://techp.org/petition/show/1
Microsoft in infiltrating the FOSS and disrupting them by signing license deals using patent threats. It is joining the FOSS camps by using money and spreading FUD. It has even inflitrated the OSI using money and pressure tactics. It wants to put a license cost on Linux. You will soon have to pay to microsoft to use Linux. It main aim is to shutdown Linux using patents and lawyers.
Please sign this petition to bring the old debain leader (Bruce Perens) back in the OSI to stop microsoft from doing so :
http://techp.org/p/7
Check the recent news about partner ship of Novell with Microsoft. Microsoft is putting a lot of proprietary patented software into Linux through Novell. Most of the good guys at Novell have left the company. Microsoft is doing this so that they can sue and threaten other companies like redhat, ubuntu, ibm who support Linux/FOSS once enough code is injected. They want to put a price-tag on Linux.
Novell is just another microsoft sponsored company.
Commercialize Linux.
Google for “evangelism is war” and “halloween documents”
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20071023002351958
Lot of things are happening under the surface that dont appear in any press. But be very careful with Microsoft/Novell. They are out to destroy Linux at all cost under the hood.
See more details about the Tax Microsoft wants to put on Linux rendering GPL non-free.
http://www.digitalmajority.org/forum/t-49513/brad-smith-continues-its-fud-spreading-wants-to-tax-redhat
I have just discovered how much I enjoy Linux, (pronounced Freedom)
Now a Greedy Dictator (Microsoft) is trying to take away my freedom of choice?
It seems the more money you have the more corrupt you are.
I cannot believe how Greedy some people are.
Come on Microsoft take me to court I just slammed you, lets make it public knowledge.
Parasite.
You dont invent anything you steal it, add very little and slap your name on it.
Microsoft must NOT be allowed to Monopolize every computer on earth.