[ Thanks to Tim
Rushing for this link. ]
“Two years ago, numerous companies thought it would be a snap to
parlay the popularity of the open-source operating system into
profitability. Now Linux companies are consolidating, overhauling
their business plans, laying off staff, scaling back expansion
plans and pushing back profitability schedules.”
“Linux executives and analysts predict this new environment
could spawn several new trends: Linux companies cooperating more,
consolidating more or ceding some influence to giant corporations
such as IBM. And they expect the tougher business climate to widen
the gap between the leading distributor of Linux, Red Hat, and its
competitors.“
“It would seem there are too many distributions for the market
to bear,” said Gartner analyst Tom Henkel. “Red Hat is the most
popular. The other distributions don’t have a lot of
visibility.”