“Gallagher’s First Theorem of Technology Marketing: The quickest
way to erode a product’s market is to introduce something that does
80% of what that product does-and give it away.
OK, so I just made that up. But even so, it’s a rule of thumb
that’s been demonstrated on plenty of occasions in the past,
particularly by Microsoft-perhaps one or two times too many,
considering how things are going for the Redmond folks in court
recently.
So if my theorem holds any water, you can predict how it applies
to Linux and the Unix-on-Intel market. If you were in the
Unix-for-Intel business, you’d have to ask yourself some pretty
hard questions these days-like “How do I stay relevant to my
customers and still make money when they can get Linux for
free?”
SCO obviously has, and the company’s answers to those questions
are embodied in the latest release of its UnixWare operating
system. And it looks like at least part of the answer is to give
away some licenses. SCO will allow noncommercial users to use
UnixWare 7.1 free of charge. On top of that, UnixWare 7.1 also
includes binary compatibility with Linux applications compiled for
the Intel platform, so users can take advantage of the wealth of
open software available for that operating system.”