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Is Linux outgrowing its roots?

Published: 15 Aug 2002 15:17 BST

The Linux world is growing up fast. Just look at who are the keynote speakers for LinuxWorld: executives from Sun, Oracle, IBM and Google. What happened to the real penguins who started this revolution? Are they not worthy of the main stage? Has the penguin gotten too cozy with the establishment for its own good? Or is it simply learning to live in a world in which revenue and customer lists are critical factors for success?

The news from LinuxWorld shows all the signs of open source as a mainstream enterprise server platform. IBM, HP, Dell, Red Hat, Sun, Oracle, AMD and a host of other companies are coming out with new products, alliances, and most importantly, customer wins, especially in the workstation and low-end edge server markets. Sun and Red Hat are talking about making significant investments to deliver a Linux desktop to corporate customers.

Even Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison touted Linux as if it were the best technology invention since his company pioneered relational databases. Ellison said he was promoting Linux because it is the best operating system, and to back up that statement said his company is running all of its enterprise applications and Web sites on Linux.

Despite the Linux lovefest testimonials, maintaining the promise of open-source software to be interchangeable and interoperable is a big challenge. The open-source concept is to allow you to choose the components and partners you prefer without getting locked into a proprietary schema.

Most of the establishment players have made their fortunes by creating proprietary solutions that differentiate them from their competitors. The level playing field is a new phenomenon for them, and at this point in time they cannot ignore the power of the open-source movement and the demand from customers for more cost effective, flexible technology.