Financial Times: The future looks assured

[ Thanks to Paul
Eggert for this link. ]

“…Ironically, as the operating system finds
increasing market share and support among large IT companies, the
smaller concerns which package and sell Linux have been
experiencing difficulties. In the last months, Corel, the software
company, has spun off its solutions provider or “distribution” as
it is called in the Linux world. SuSE has announced redundancies,
particularly affecting its US office, and MandrakeSoft, makers of
the well-regarded Mandrake distribution, lost many members of its
senior management including the chief executive. Linuxcare,
Turbolinux and VA Linux Systems have also laid off staff.

Only US-based Red Hat is on the point of breaking even – it
posted a small profit in the first quarter of this year and a small
loss in the latest quarter.

In general, however, the millions of copies of Linux in use have
not translated into profits. This is not surprising, seeing that
Linux’s licence requires that it be able to be copied and modified
freely.

Yet this, increasingly, looks like its defining strength for
business use.”

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