The Linux game has changed forever

By Stan Beer
Tuesday, 07 November 2006

The events of the past two weeks, which have seen the two largest companies in the world enter the Linux space, demonstrates that the party is over and the Linux game has changed forever. Red Hat is making a brave stand but stands little chance against the likes of Oracle and Microsoft.

One very much gets the feeling that in the enterprise at least, both Oracle and Microsoft are now ready to acknowledge that Linux is a game that they cannot afford to ignore. Both companies realize that they are missing out on a potential growth business by leaving to others what they could do themselves.

In Oracle's case, the company has weighed up the pros and cons and come to the conclusion that it has the people resources, expertise and existing customer base to usurp a growing Red Hat Linux support business worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually. There is little Red Hat can do except fight the good fight, but it is badly outgunned by a much more powerful opponent with little barriers to entry into its market.

Microsoft's case is different. Recognizing that Linux is definitely not going to go away, Microsoft wants to make sure that its software applications work as well with Linux as they do with Windows - interoperability is the name of its game. Working together with Novell, Microsoft wants to get closer to the Linux users, which are gradually infiltrating all enterprise sites. Microsoft is missing out on potential business because its applications can't run on Linux.

Oracle has demonstrated in no uncertain terms that the business of Linux distribution is not about selling software but support. It's a lesson that both Microsoft and Novell could not afford to ignore.