“In a vote of confidence for open-source software
development, several major technology companies – including Dell,
Hewlett-Packard (HWP) , Intel (INTC) , Novell (NOVL) , Oracle
(ORCL) and Sun Microsystems (SUNW) – this week will announce their
participation in a $35 million venture capital round for
Collab.Net, an exchange that brings together independent developers
with companies for software projects.“
“The investment comes after open-source firms LinuxCare and
LinuxOne postponed their planned IPOs, and as stocks of other
open-source companies – including Caldera Systems, Red Hat (RHAT)
and VA Linux Systems (LNUX) – continue downward slides that began
before the April stock market downturn. LinuxCare and TurboLinux
both laid off substantial numbers of employees in May.”
“It shows that, despite what may have been happening to Linux
stocks recently, it wasn’t just a fad,” says Brian Behlendorf,
founder of Collab.Net and cofounder of the Apache (APA) Software
Foundation.”