“Concern is growing in the Linux community that the forthcoming
UnitedLinux distribution will not be able to meet the enterprise
server challenge of Red Hat Inc. in the United States.“Red Hat’s dominance is worrisome to some industry players, who
say the Raleigh, N.C., company needs effective competition to
prevent it from becoming a Microsoft Corp. among Linux vendors and
to ensure the operating system continues to develop in an open
way.“International Data Corp. reported this month that Red Hat won
nearly three-quarters of the $80 million in U.S. Linux sales last
year. Most of the balance went to SuSE Linux AG, the report
said…”
[Editor’s Note: In the interest of presenting all sides of
this argument, we are adding this link to a rebuttal piece from Red
Hat’s Jeremy Hogan that was posted on NewsForge. -BKP]
NewsForge: Commentary: Is Red Hat the Microsoft of Linux?
“It seems like a week can’t go by where someone doesn’t fling
the ‘Microsoft of Linux’ accusation at Red Hat. It’s sort of tepid
and lazy to even bother to say that. Why not ‘The Starbucks of
Linux?’ Makes more sense if you think about it, but I’m not sure
the accusation has much to do with thinking.“There’s a few directions a ‘rebuttal’ can take, depending on
where the question comes from.“Laziness, as above. It’s too hard to find a comparison within
the industry and some folks can’t translate the metaphor outside of
IT. To say democracy, or the industrial revolution, or the
renaissance.“If you mean that we are, and will continue to be a dominant
player in technology and innovation, the answer is yes. You bet.
Amen and halleluiah…”