By Brian Proffitt
Managing Editor
Way back in May of 2002, four Linux distribution companies got
together and decided to form a common Linux standard to build their
wares upon. A collective response to the then and still
commercially dominant Red Hat Linux, this consortium was called
UnitedLinux. And it was declared good.
Well, we all know how that one turned out. Read the memo.
In November of 2003, another enterprise-level Linux distribution
was announced: this one spearheaded by Bruce Perens. Known as
UserLinux, this Debian-based distribution fould serve as a true
Linux standard to which independent software and hardware vendors
could write or configure once. And it was declared good.
No one is sure what’s going on with UserLinux. A new
installation CD was released on February 11 of this year, and there
was some talk about pulling UserLinux packages into Ubuntu in
March, and then nothing. Perens is off working for SourceLabs and
the buzz on the streets is that UserLinux is fading.
In November of 2004, Progeny, Mandriva, and TurboLinux got
together and decided to form a common Linux standard to build their
wares upon. A collective response to the then and still
commercially dominant Red Hat Linux, this consortium was called the
Linux Core Consortium. And it was declared good.
And… nothing happened. For whatever reason, the three
companies were not abale to get their collective acts synced up. I
suspect, based on their acquisitions of Connectiva and Lycoris,
Mandriva thought it had better things to do. TurboLinux seems to be
buy trying to carve out the Asia market share with Red Flag Linux
and Novell.
Progeny seems to have wanted the LCC to work, because now they
are trying again with their Debian Core Consortium. The question
is, in the face of all of these collaboration failures, can they
make this work?
Part UnitedLinux (because of the many companies they are trying
to get on board) and part UserLinux (because of the common Debian
element), the DCC hopes to be what none of these three
collaborations could ever be: a single successful enterprise
distribution that will benefit ISVs, IHVs, and users alike.
While it is easy to draw historical parallels to the failures of
the past (so easy, I’ve already done it), these examples may not
all apply to the DCC.
UnitedLinux keeled over long before Caldera/SCO went insane and
started using litigation as a revenue model. One reason was that
while their intentions were good, there was too much user/market
overlap for these companies to really make an effort to share
technology. Another was the dominance of one of the players very
early on: SuSE Linux made it quite clear who was running this show,
to the exclusion of all else, even Ransom Love and others who came
up with UnitedLinux.
I am unsure if UserLinux has failed, but by gosh it’s been
pretty quiet lately. I will not speculate, but will put forth this
though: if UserLinux is not a failure, then why isn’t the new DCC
just joining up with them?
I have already mentioned the reasons why I think the LCC tanked.
Basically, Mandriva wants to go its own way.
Will these things happen to the DCC?
Not necessarily.
For one, and this is the huge advantage: all of the distros
joining the DCC will be Debian-based. While this seems obvious, the
complexity of this advantage is deep. 100 percent of the
participant’s core code will be the same, so many technologicial
and engineering hurdles faced by UnitedLinux and the LCC will not
be in place.
Second, as several analysts have pointed out, many of the
Debian-based distros will not be targeting the same audience. That
leaves them free to share more without fear of cutting their own
throats.
So, with that in mind, I think DCC could work. It will be
interesting to see who the final players will be. But that Murdock,
he’s a cagey one, and we will have to wait until August to get
anything from him.
That said, I wonder if this ongoing drive to consolidate is
going to be a part of Linux and open source for the rest of time?
Now, when I say consolidate, I do not mean technologically, I
mostly mean in a business sense. While all of these distros bring a
strong diversity to Linux overall, there seems to be a growing
trend that business-wise, they need to band together in order to
succeed.
Are we going to see more consolidation? Yes, without a doubt.
There’s too much potential revenue at stake not to try to pull
together and take a shot. Especially now that Microsoft’s vaunted
lead is eroding away.
But does this mean we will see less distros? Heck, no. Even if
distros consort, or get acquired, or dies off, there will always be
more to take their place. The best will survive in pure Darwinian
fashion.