Internet Week: Linux’s New Best Friend

“Will the combination of an old-line proprietary software
company with roots in Utah and an up-and-coming open-source
distributor in Nuremberg, Germany, add to Linux’s momentum? That’s
the thinking behind Novell’s planned acquisition of SuSE Linux AG
for $210 million, disclosed last week, which brings together
Novell’s large installed customer base with SuSE’s business-ready
Linux operating system. It may be the best of two worlds–if Novell
can pull it off.

“Already, Novell is getting some help: IBM says it will invest
$50 million in Novell. The deal shows that ‘Linux is continuing to
make its way into the mainstream,’ says Tony Iams, a senior analyst
with DH Brown Associates. ‘Some people may see it as the passing of
an era, the freewheeling, grassroots time when everything was
free…'”

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