“IBM Chairman Louis Gerstner said his company is investing
$1 billion in Linux as part of a bet that the open-source operating
system could overtake Microsoft’s Windows NT in 2004.”
“In a keynote speech at the eBusiness Expo here, Gerstner said
Linux is growing at twice the rate of Windows NT. “Some estimate it
will become more prevalent than NT by 2004,” he said. “This is a
big issue for every server company.”
“If companies are going to be successful in the next generation
of eBusiness, they must invest in an infrastructure that is “open
and based on cross-industry standards” such as Linux, Gerstner
said. The fight for open standards is “worth fighting” and solution
providers and businesses should not settle for proprietary systems,
he said.”