“TurboLinux CEO Cliff Miller, a renegade even inside the
renegade open source industry, is never afraid to speak his mind.
And the fact that TurboLinux remains a private company with no
announced plans for an IPO gives him greater freedom to lose money
in the pursuit of market expansion. Time will determine whether
he’s smart and gutsy or whether he’s just nuts.”
“The TurboLinux strategy, he said Wednesday, “is the Amazon
business strategy: Spread far and wide — and figure out how to
make money later.” And, he added, speaking to the Chinese American
Professionals Association in Palo Alto, “All Linux companies are
doing this to some extent.””
“While market share statistics are widely debated, there’s
no question that Turbo is a Linux powerhouse in Asia. And to
Miller, China specifically lends itself to Linux proliferation.
Since China’s installed base of legacy systems is small, users can
“leapfrog over this inferior technology,” in a thinly veiled
reference to Microsoft.”