Merger sparks interest in Linux product

By ADAM GIFFORD

The open source operating system Linux is set to get a bigger push in this country when distributor Base10 Technology adds Caldera OpenLinux to its portfolio.

Caldera Systems is buying the server software and professional services divisions of The Santa Cruz Operation (SCO), whose commercial Unix Base10 already distributes.

The open source community views the SCO-Caldera merger with interest because of the potential for some of SCO's industrial strength Unix utilities to be added to Linux.

Caldera's Unixware offering already includes a five-user licence for SCO's Tarantella software, which allows users to access applications across the internet.

Base10 managing director Gary Wills said he had taken on two more engineers and was looking for an account manager to cope with the Caldera product because it had created so much interest among users.

These people ranged from home users to large corporate software developers.

"There are a lot of people developing Linux applications in their bedrooms, which are viable business solutions."

Base10 will look to sell Caldera OpenLinux, which retails for $110, through electronics stores and university bookshops, as well as through developers.

Caldera pitches itself as the "Linux for Business" technology leader. While Linux can be downloaded for free off the internet, the commercial distributions include documentation and utilities to aid installation.

Unix consultant Ian Soffe from Open Systems Specialists said Linux was gaining traction, but it was a gradual process.

"There's a press tendency to want to see a situation where a product comes from nowhere to be dominant - that won't happen - but there's plenty of Linux out there and there will be more by the end of the year."

Sites using commercial Unixes would stick with what they had, but many smaller sites were considering moving from Windows NT to using Linux as a file and print server, internet gateway and firewall.

"You can do it all for not a great cost with the Linux applications already there," Mr Soffe said.

"The impression I get is where five years ago guys coming out of university thought NT would be the be all and end all, now they think that about Linux.

"So the skills base is growing. Lots of younger are people playing with Linux and know it best."

The SCO-Caldera merger combined an older Unix company which "has never been good at marketing and has been slow to push its latest technologies" with a Linux manufacturer which was still working out how to make money.

Auckland geek haven Dr Floppy sells half a dozen versions of Linux.

Shop assistant Craig said Red Hat, which had captured a lot of the marketing mind share, had stumbled in recent months and priced itself out of contention for buyers, with its professional version selling for $495.

What's hot was the German-made Suse Linux, whose $196 professional version came with six CDs of software. "If you can't find what you need in there, you've really got a problem."

Craig said Caldera OpenLinux was considered the best for people wanting to run desktop applications such as the Star Office suite, and was relatively easy to install.

Having more games running on the platform had also increased sales of Linux, which can be loaded onto a PC and have a Windows operating system run alongside it.