CIO Insight: The Big Bad Wolf

“As if cast in the image of its creator Linus Torvalds, Linux
has become the fair-haired boy of the computer industry. Over the
past dozen years, Linux has grown in popularity and matured in
capability at a fast if not spectacular rate. Today it stands on
the cusp of becoming one of just two contenders for the mantle of
server operating system of choice. But Linux’s once-rosy future is
now in doubt. That’s because the sight of the fair-haired boy
happily skipping down the path of success has finally attracted the
wolves.

“One small but cagey wolf is SCO Group, which claims Linux
infringes on SCO’s Unix source code. Money may be the main
motivation for both the company’s $1 billion suit against IBM Corp.
for allegedly violating its Unix license, and the threatening
letters it has sent to corporations that are using Linux. But the
result of SCO’s threats is to create uncertainty, which over time
could cause corporations to back off their support of Linux.

“In the long run the small wolf isn’t the problem. The real
threat comes from the much larger, more dangerous and more cunning
wolf that’s intent on killing Linux. That wolf is Microsoft Corp.
The parable has been told many times before in the IT industry,
often with an unhappy ending: A young if not necessarily naive
upstart gains a foothold in the market with a new technology,
rivals jump in, and a bloodbath follows, most often with Microsoft
the ultimate victor…”

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