Linux Gets Boost From Dell, Oracle

Forbes.com ^ | 06.05.02, 3:00 PM ET | Lisa DiCarlo

[Redcloak]

Operating Systems
Linux Gets Boost From Dell, Oracle
Lisa DiCarlo, 06.05.02, 3:00 PM ET

NEW YORK - In yet another strong show of support for the Linux operating system, market leaders Oracle (nasdaq: ORCL - news - people ), Dell Computer (nasdaq: DELL - news - people ) and Red Hat Software (nasdaq: RHAT - news - people ) today combined strengths to make the software more reliable, higher performance and easier to buy.

For the first time, Dell will resell licenses for Oracle's 9i database and application server software for Red Hat Linux. That lets customers avoid having to buy from two companies, and is a strong show of support of Linux from Dell, which made its fortune as a purveyor of Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) Windows systems.

The trio is also developing more reliable Linux products for Dell's storage systems, which are actually made by EMC (nyse: EMC - news - people ). The big improvement here is that Oracle and Red Hat are developing so-called "clustering" technology for Dell servers. Typically the domain of traditional Unix, clustering is a complex way to get higher performance from a smaller number of server computers.

Oracle and Dell are both seeing growth in their Linux businesses. A Dell spokeswoman says the company expects to ship 12% "or better" of its servers with factory-installed Linux this year, up from 8% to 10% last year. International Data Group expects market revenue for Linux-based relational databases, which is what Oracle sells, to surpass Unix-based relational databases by 2006, to $6 billion.

Oracle doesn't break out product sales by platform but the company says the demand for Linux is high. A spokesperson cites its online developer network, which had 370,000 downloads of Linux-related software in the last year.

The deal is also an important win for Red Hat, which appears to be under fire from the rest of the Linux distributors. Last week, several Linux companies said they would collaborate on "standard" Linux software and distribution. Red Hat, the biggest Linux distributor, was not part of the alliance. Today's news boosted Red Hat shares nominally to $4.89 in early afternoon trading.

Linux is gaining steam everywhere but especially on Wall Street, where some information technology executives say they are demanding that their technology providers have a comprehensive Linux strategy. Microsoft is the only major technology company without one. Can it hold out forever?

[buaya]

"Linux is gaining steam everywhere but especially on Wall Street, where some information technology executives say they are demanding that their technology providers have a comprehensive Linux strategy. Microsoft is the only major technology company without one. Can it hold out forever?"

Microsoft DOES have a comprehensive Linux strategy - it's called FUD.

[DrDavid]

Now, if only our friends in Redmond were Fearful, Uncertain and Doubtful about their own products!

[HEY4QDEMS]

Part of the problem is that many state attorneys general smell blood when it comes to Microsoft.

If Gates and Co. decided to, and were successful at, intergrating Linux and Windows into one OS, then Redhat, Mandrake, SuSe, et. al. would be calling for more anti-trust action against them and there would be an army of state justice depts. more than willing to do so.

From a legal standpoint, Microsoft is screwed either way.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

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[DrDavid]

NT, Windows 2K and Windows XP are an attempt to evolve MS Windows from the old MS-DOS to a POSIX compliant operating system. Unix was the foundation of the POSIX standards. Linux being a clone of Unix already contains most of the POSIX standards. Even early advertising for NT billed it as "A better Unix than Unix."

Applications can be made to run on either platform. IBM developed their ViaVoice product on Linux and ported it to Windows. The open source project GIMP (photoshop like graphics editor) has a version that runs on Windows. Even Richard Stallman's Emacs editor runs on Windows.

I don't think the Linux community would worry or complain about a MS-Linux. Given Microsoft's track record with software quality the other distributions would still be better.

[dheretic]

If Gates and Co. decided to, and were successful at, intergrating Linux and Windows into one OS, then Redhat, Mandrake, SuSe, et. al. would be calling for more anti-trust action against them and there would be an army of state justice depts. more than willing to do so

Actually Microsoft could not legally integrate the Linux kernel and Windows because of the license that Linux is released under. The GPL forbids outsiders from closing the source. Only a joint effort by every single person that contributes to a project released under the GPL can result in a relicensing of the code. To add more fuel to the fire, that relicensing isn't retroactive. All previous releases are still GPL'd therefore Microsoft would have to get a list of every single last person that put code into the official kernel distribution's core and bribe them to relicense. What they would end up getting at the most would be maybe bits and pieces of the kernel.

If Microsoft were to put any linux kernel code in Windows the entire Windows product would have to be released under the terms of the GPL. That is a requirement of the GPL, if you use any code from a product released under the GPL then you have to release your product under the GPL. The GPL simply put doesn't tolerate freeloaders. So RedHat, et al would go after Microsoft for a contract violation on behalf of the FSF, not anti-trust violation. It could also result in a criminal indictment of Microsoft officials for copyright infringement.

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

I just had this urge to strand that Linux penguin, the "Dude, you're gettin' a Dell!" guy, and Larry Ellison on an island and let them fight it out.

[HEY4QDEMS]

Like I said, either way they're screwed.

I have read many posts that question when Microsoft is going to adopt a Linux strategy.

Based on these rules, I don't see MS entering the Linux arena anytime soon.

[Dimensio]

You forgot another option:
Microsoft could incorporate GLPed code, never disclose that they are using GLPed code in violation of the license agreement and hope that they never get caught. Some suspect that they're already engaging in such activity.

[Redcloak]

Since I can't imagine either "Steven" or Larry catching a fish in his beak, I would guess that Tux would be the sole survivor.

;^)

[The KG9 Kid]

My worthless opinions:

1. Linux is cool, even if it doesn't do anything useful for a typical end user except to let them browse the WWW.

2. Apple OSX is cooler than Linux, which is what everyone who fiddles with a Linux PC ought to really be using.

3. IBM's adoption of Linux is akin to what they were doing ten years ago with OS/2, which was another OS superior to anything MS had. OS/2 is still around running ATMs flawlessly. This is the future of Linux.

4. There's nothing that a Linux PC can do that a Sun system can't do better -- even though it may cost a little more.

5. Hell with all this Linux crap anyway. I use WinXP on my home PC.

[TechJunkYard]

Oracle and Dell are both seeing growth in their Linux businesses... Dell... expects to ship 12% "or better" of its servers with factory-installed Linux this year, up from 8% to 10% last year. International Data Group expects market revenue for Linux-based relational databases, which is what Oracle sells, to surpass Unix-based relational databases by 2006, to $6 billion. Oracle doesn't break out product sales by platform but the company says the demand for Linux is high.

Linux is getting a lot of attention in the corporate world now. Lotus has a Domino server for Linux (and I've got the beta). Citrix, Real, Adobe and others have supported this platform for years. Good to see.

Is Microsoft fighting a losing battle? Will it continue to distance itself from all things Open Source? Dunno... Office runs on Macs now and there was a time I never thought I'd see that happen. MS could, if it wanted, port some apps over and distribute them Object Code Only (OCO), and only need to arrange licensing with the folks who make KDE and Gnome... but to the detriment of their own desktop. Perhaps write their own Display Manager to emulate the Windows desktop, which no self-respecting Linux user would ever install... and DON'T bother porting IE. ;-)

Hey, MS can have the desktop; There's lots more to it than that. I just don't think there's much of a market for MS products on Linux.

[dheretic]

That's not an option. All it would take would be a disgruntled employee to get a CVS/SourceSafe copy of the lastest build's code on a CD-R and take it to the FBI and media. Gates and Balmer would be bankrupted by stockholder lawsuits because they would cost the company a cool several billion in revenue out of arrogance. It could also heavily drain that $40B that they have in reserve. Microsoft is well aware of the fact that in a company as large as their own, you cannot keep all employees happy all the time.

[dheretic]

4. There's nothing that a Linux PC can do that a Sun system can't do better -- even though it may cost a little more.

Entry level Sun systems are $1000 and anything decently big will set you back a lot more than that! LinuxPPC and Linux-Alpha brings more value than Solaris in low end systems. An entry level system for Linux is the cheapest off the shelf PC you can find. Solaris is also as useless as a tit on a bull for embedded systems. There are also no Solaris-based laptops. I can easily install a Linux-PPC distribution on my powerbook if I need to.

5. Hell with all this Linux crap anyway. I use WinXP on my home PC

Your point? I use it too, but I didn't buy my copy. It's a free MSDN copy from my CS department's academic alliance package. I can assure you, I wouldn't be using it if I had to deal with the product activation $hit that off the shelf copies have.

[DrDavid]

5. Hell with all this Linux crap anyway. I use WinXP on my home PC.

I have 2 PC's at home, one with Linux RedHat 7.1 (win98SE barely works on the same hardward and Linux runs greate). The other is a new one running WinXP. I've found that WinXP is only slightly better than Win98SE. The computer now occasionally hangs when I try to log out. I still can't get any useful tech support from the manufacturer or MS web site. This problem started after installing one of the updates, but there are so many I can't figure out which one it was!

My conclusion is WinXP is just more of the same....

[The KG9 Kid]

4. You get what you pay for. Sun doesn't make trash.

5. My XP is a site-license rip-off too. ~:-D

Embedded systems should be running WinCE or LynxOS anyway.

Yes, I already know that a working copy of Linux can run on a single floppy. I've also seen embedded Win2k PCs that are smaller than a pack of playing cards.

[Bush2000]

4. You get what you pay for. Sun doesn't make trash.

Sun Patches Two Solaris Holes

Bwahahahahahahahahahaha!

[Bush2000]

Is Microsoft fighting a losing battle?

Yes, it is; in fact, by the looks of things, they should just fold their tent, surrender, and give that $50B nestegg to charity... /sarcasm