“A few weeks ago, Bloomberg Financial published a story rumoring
an imminent purchase of Be by Red Hat Software. Although the rumors
had still not been substantiated as of this writing, their effect
on the community of BeOS and Linux users (not to mention Be’s stock
price) was immediate.”
“Stories appeared simultaneously on BeNews and Slas hdot.org,
where the respective user communities hashed out possible
ramifications. Of course, everyone knew they were quibbling over
rumors, but never mind that. The prospect raises so many issues
people apparently couldn’t help themselves.”
“Let’s pretend — in a purely hypothetical mode — Red Hat
did buy Be. What would it mean for Be? What would it mean for
Linux? What would it mean for users? The answer to those
questions, of course, depend on knowing what, exactly, Red Hat
planned to do with BeOS. I’ll present two imaginary scenarios
followed by imaginary repercussions, were those events to come to
pass.”