There seems to be some discussion about whether it is a good thing or a
bad thing that Linux is available in a number of distributions,
including RedHat, Slackware, Caldera, Debian, Craftworks, and many
others. The point being argued was that Linux will not gain commercial
support if it has diversity in commercial applications.
I have to disagree with this assessment. There are a number of
commercial offerings for Linux/intel, including WordPerfect, Applix,
StarOffice, WABI, Netscape, Quake, Wingz, NExS, Mathematica, and many
others. A list can be obtained here for those who are not aware of the
wonderful selection of software available for Linux:
http://www.redhat.com/linux-info/linux-app-list/linapps.html
Having a number of distributions to choose from makes it far easier to
get a Linux system that will run with the computer one has. For
example, I was very lucky and recently got a 486/66 laptop with only 8
megs of ram for only $300. RedHat 4.1 refused to install on the systems
(it would croak on large rpms), but Slackware 3.2 quickly and easily
installed on this system. Despite the fact that Slackware has a number
of rough edges (no bc by default, lpr is broken, etc.), it is a very
nice distribution to place on older computers with limited ram or hard
disk resources. Slackware is the distro I would place on the "386sx/16
with 4 megs of ram and 20 megs of hard disk space" I hear people talk
about.
In terms of commercial support, it would appear that Ray Noorda and
Caldera (http://www.caldera.com) are very successful at getting
compaines to port their product to Linux. If there is one group who can
convince Adobe in to porting Photoshop to Linux, it would be the people
at Caldera. [Yes, the gimp (http://www.xcf.berkeley.edu/~gimp) is
groovy, but a port of Photoshop would make Linux more accessible to
those from a Mac or Windows background.]
Here's to the future of Linux!
- Sam
[1] Is someone SYN-bombing www.xcf.berkeley.edu? I can't open up the
web page to verify the gimp URL, and netstat is showing SYN_SENT.