“From a fundamental perspective, users and industry pundits
alike are saying Linux and the open source software movement could
be the biggest threat to Microsoft’s dominance in the operating
system market over the next few years.”
“But can investors take a movement seriously that claims a
portly penguin as its mascot? They should. For one, Linux as
an operating system is growing faster than are any of its
competitors. It is also is an ideal operating system for appliance
computing, a high-growth segment that I’ve commented on the past.
Most impressive is that Linux systems are the operating
infrastructure behind an astounding 31 percent of all Internet
servers–giving it the No. 1 unit market share for this important
segment….”
“The question for many investors still remains: How can anyone
make money from free software? It helps to understand the four
basic business models (that I’ve seen so far) that separate focused
Linux players.”
