[Cialug] Oracle Considering Own Linux Version

[Stephen Hawkins]

CIALUG,

Saw this today.  The next to the last line was what caught my eye.

Steve
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 By Nate Mook, BetaNews 
April 17, 2006, 11:08 AM
Oracle, most known for its database software, is considering whether to 
release its own Linux distribution, and has even discussed the possibility of 
buying Novell in the process. The news, revealed Monday by the Financial 
Times, follows the purchase of JBoss by Red Hat.
With JBoss providing software that competes in the business market with 
Oracle, Red Hat has become a potential rival. Red Hat is the largest 
distributor of the Linux operating system, which Oracle relies upon to sell 
its own products. "We have to re-look at the relationship; so does IBM," 
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison told the FT.
 
 Along with IBM, Oracle has long embraced the open source world as a way to 
compete with Microsoft's dominance on Windows. Microsoft's SQL Server is a 
top competitor to Oracle, and the companies have a number of overlapping 
products.
However, in the process, Oracle has become reliant on third party Linux 
vendors, which have increasingly been expanding into business solutions as a 
way to raise revenues.
"I'd like to have a complete stack," Ellison said, referring to both 
applications and the operating system they run on. "We're missing an 
operating system. You could argue that it makes a lot of sense for us to look 
at distributing and supporting Linux."
According to the FT report, Oracle has even considered acquiring Novell, the 
second largest Linux vendor thanks to its purchase of SUSE. But at this 
point, such talk is merely explorative, Ellison says.
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Steve
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Steve Hawkins NG0G
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