“With the world and its dog jumping on the proverbial Linux
bandwagon the only thing that seemed likely to stop Linux achieving
mass appeal was a lack of validation from the worlds money
markets…”
“Actually it appears that Red Hat may just be the start, the
rumour mill is already in full swing predicting IPO’s from anyone
from VA Linux Systems and Linuxcare to Caldera. Caldera CEO Bryan
Sparks in fact has recently confirmed that it is seriously
considering a flotation, unless that is someone acquires it first.
But what does all of this mean for Linux? If you ask some of the
people at Microsoft, they would probably say it marks the start of
the end of Linux. Microsoft’s senior VP Jim Alchin was recently
quoted as saying in reference to Linux that the drive for profit
would ruin the altruism people use to promote it. And let’s face
it, Jim is probably speaking from experience.”