[aclug-L] Linux gaining respect

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   Hello Everybody,

Here is another article about the growing popularity of... yep you guessed 
it...LINUX :))

Check it out.
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Linux gaining respect
By Randy Weston
July 21, 1998, 11:35 a.m. PT
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0%2C4%2C24436%2C00.html?sas.mail

Linux is finally gaining respect outside the hallowed halls of academia.  

  A slew of vendors is lining up this week to announce support for the 
open-source--meaning free--version of the Unix operating system. Among  those 
jumping on the Linux train are Oracle, Informix, and Netscape.  

    "Over the last few months, as the groundswell for Linux has increased, our 
customers have asked for Oracle's commitment to this popular platform," said 
Gary Bloom, executive vice president of Oracle's system products group. "The 
recent series of announcements from Netscape, Oracle, and other vendors in 
support of Linux is the direct result of developer demand for a  low cost, open 
standards alternative to Windows NT."   

        For its part, the Redwood Shores, California-based firm is porting its 
year-old  Oracle8 database to the Linux system. It will initially be available 
on the  Intel platform and will be available by year's end for a 90-day free 
trial  via the Web.  

  Meanwhile, down the road in Menlo Park, California, sources at  Informix 
confirmed it will announce this week, at its user group  conference in Seattle, 
support for the Linux platform. Informix  executives are not commenting on any 
details of their plans until the  announcement tomorrow.  

  Netscape has been a longtime supporter of the operating system,  mainly 
because of its popularity among Internet service providers   and other Internet 
savvy businesses. Netscape today announced it is developing Linux versions of 
its entire server software line starting with Netscape Messaging Server and 
Netscape Directory Server. Netscape already has a beta version available of its 
Communicator 4.5 client software for Linux.  

                          More coverage on CNET Radio                  Linux, 
which now has about 7 million users, was invented eight years ago by Linus 
Torvalds at the University of Helsinki. It has since spread as an alternative 
to the proprietary Unix operating systems and to  Microsoft's Windows NT 
operating system. Linux, by many accounts, is now the fastest growing Unix 
platform.   

  While the price can't be beat, the vendors now spending money to support the 
product say Linux's growing popularity isn't driven just by cost--the quality 
of the product is also at issue.  

  "Price-performance is an issue, but cheap isn't everything," said Steve 
Lambright, Informix's senior manager for server product marketing. "If it was 
free but didn't work no one would use it. But it has a great high value to low 
price ratio. It is extremely high quality and extremely flexible. This is ready 
for the enterprise."  

  Informix had reportedly scrapped  plans earlier this year to port to Linux 
when its financial situation took  a dive. But heavy demand, particularly among 
Internet service providers,  has driven the firm to do an about face. Research 
firm Datapro recently reported that Linux  has jumped in one year from the 
seventh to the fourth most commonly installed  version of Unix.  

  "We see Linux poised in the same vane as the Web was two or three years ago, 
when it was just beginning to take off," Lambright said. "There is a movement 
of Linux away from academia and into the enterprise."  

  It's a factor Netscape has been claiming for awhile. The Mountain View, 
California-based Internet software vendor often cites Linux as the model for 
its open source code program which has resulted in the freeware distribution of 
the company's Communicator Web software suite.  

  "Linux has matured to the point where it is competitive to other operating  
systems in terms of stability and performance," said Tim Howes, chief  
technical officer of Netscape's server product division. "It has some very  
attractive qualities, not the least of which is the open-source code."  

  Other vendors who have joined in the Linux crusade are Corel, which released 
a Linux version of WordPerfect, and InterBase, a subsidiary of Inprise 
(formerly Borland  International), which ported its  database to Linux.  

  


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