“In the aftermath of LinuxWorld, a few things were apparent: The
community supporting the freely distributed operating system is
increasing furiously, and hardware vendors such as IBM,
Hewlett-Packard, and Dell Computer are some of the new
entrants.”
“While some members of the community of Linux users worry about
the influence commercial vendors will have on the operating system,
creator Linus Torvalds heartily welcomes their support. “That
commercial companies don’t give back is not a loss for Linux,”
Torvalds says. “The PR value in itself supports Linux. Dell and IBM
are key to getting other hardware companies involved.“
“Vendors see very little downside and lots of upside to the
Linux market,” says Gartner Group VP George Weiss, noting that the
flexibility and customization that Linux offers is an attractive
alternative to proprietary systems. “Microsoft doesn’t have the
power to push vendors to their business model any longer.”