“…When it comes to investing, Roseman and his partner
Frederick Berenstein are making sure that the upstart Linux
operating system does not take off without them. The two partners
have invested about $22 million in eight start-up companies focused
on Linux, a variant of the Unix operating system that is
making major inroads in the computer industry as a competitor to
Unix and Microsoft Corp.’s Windows 2000 for serious computing tasks
like Web site hosting.”
“Berenstein and Roseman said they plan to take their New
York-based holding company, Linux Global Partners, public sometime
this year or early in 2001. But with both Linux stocks and holding
companies like CMGI Inc. out of favor on Wall Street in recent
months, it remains to be seen how a Linux-related holding company
will be received amid this rockier climate.”
“Linux is not a magic word by itself,” said Dan Kusnetzky, an
analyst with market researcher International Data Corp. “Some
Linux companies are likely to be successful over time and some are
not.”