“Stock in Novell, which has operations in Utah and is the
world’s No. 2 Linux distributor, closed at $7.68 per share, up 17
cents, or 2 percent. Oracle edged up 6 cents, to $13.74, but Red
Hat, the world’s leading Linux company, saw its stock slip to
$28.51 per share–down $2.04, or 7 percent.“Trading figures alone couldn’t begin to reflect the buzz set
off by Ellison’s acknowledgement in a Financial Times of London
interview that Oracle will either develop its own version of the
freely distributed Linux operating system, or acquire one to
compete with the growing Red Hat Inc…”