“Last week’s Network World Linux Showdown may have lacked the
fireworks of recent political debates, but the event still shed
plenty of light on the different strategies of the five
participating Linux vendors and where open source software is
headed.
Representatives from Caldera, SuSE, TurboLinux, VA Linux and
Walnut Creek CDROM (market leader Red Hat declined to participate)
came off more as friendly rivals than as fierce competitors
during the debate, moderated by Network World Editorial Director
John Gallant. The companies are spending most of their competitive
energies trying to challenge Windows and Unix with their open
source-based offerings.
Still, that didn’t stop the participants from taking each other
to task over issues such as delays in releasing source code; the
scooping up of too much talent from the open source community; and
the splitting of allegiances between Linux and other software, such
as FreeBSD. Questions were also raised by audience members and a
panel of industry watchers about Linux security and support for the
Linux Standard Base (LSB).”