“So far, Linux vendors are doing what the medical community
adopted long ago to provide better care to patients –
specialization. For example, on the desktop there is HelixCode, Red
Hat and Corel. Others focus on turnkey hardware/software, such as
VA Linux, and clustering, such as TurboLinux. In the long run,
users can expect to see the number of vendors and vendor offerings
slim down as companies merge and die off, observers say.”
“There are at least 157 Linux releases available, according to
Dan Kusnetzky, an analyst at IDC, a Framingham, Mass., market
research firm. Kusnetzky says of the 157, only five to seven come
from top vendors, including Red Hat, SuSe (of Europe), TurboLinux,
Caldera and Corel. For the most part, Linux vendors will make their
way by providing added value to users beyond simple Linux software.
That value will be in the form of services, support or software
specialization.”
“In the end, Kusnetzky says, network managers should
remember that trying out a few offerings might be worth the hassle,
considering the dramatic savings of a Linux implementation, which
can be thousands of dollars less for each client on the network
compared to leading operating system implementations.”