The LA Times reported this morning that AOL Time Warner may be in negotiations to purchase Red Hat Linux. The reporter went so far as to mention that AOL could install a version of Red Hat that launches on top of Windows to run future versions of AOL software.

This is quite interesting. I believe whether or not this deal comes through, Red Hat is an attractive acquisition candidate for a well-financed giant that wishes to develop solutions outside the Microsoft proprietary software system.  it would also offer developers a new venue for Unix/Linux based applications.

I find this most interesting Anyone else care to comment?

The acquisition cost of Red Hat Linux would be $2 billion or less. That’s a small price for a well-financed media or technology giant to pay to have a maturing platform from which to develop solutions independent of Windows.

Granted, the Red Hat Linux OS is based on Open Source code, but there is value to the brand name and expertise in Linux development and distribution.

That’s interesting. That could give Linux the marketing muscle and programming background to make it a viable mainstream alternative to Windows. Certainly, AOL would LOVE a chance to compete against Microsoft directly, and by taking an open source code base like Linux, they can plant their own AOL-styled OS using Internet-style linking to programs and files, even more so than Windows XP could.

However, I somehow think the community responce will be tepid. The free-software crowd would probably take great exception to having their code taken over by such a major conglomerate like AOL-TW. AOL has also always been seen as the scum of the internet by many of the more advanced users, which Linux users certainly consider themselves to be. The only advantage they might have is the Netscape Mozilla code, which has always had a foot in the door with the Open Source community.

I think their only hope would be to play well with the Open Source community, and make the profit from the creation of new commercial Linux applications, and simply try to recoup GUI development costs, since if people don’t like AOL’s Linux, they’ll just use someone else’s distribution.

_________________
-Jon Roth

Instant Philosopher; Just add hot topic and stir.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: KitsuneStudios on 2002-01-21 01:50 ]</font>

1/22/02 Update

AOL Time Warner has announced that talks with Red Hat are not taking place

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: DawnTreader on 2002-01-22 14:46 ]</font>

bah! Anticlimax!  It would have been wayyyy too interesting to see how that panned out.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Raena on 2002-01-24 09:30 ]</font>

Yeah! I wanted more drama too…

I already had visions of rabid OpenSource believers camping in front of the AOL headquarters, campfires burning and chanting bash scripts, ready to storm the entrance with a giant rubber penguin if their demands aren’t met.

(Sheesh, I really have to stop drinking six cans of Diet Coke a day)

On 2002-01-24 10:18, Eindvijand wrote:
Yeah! I wanted more drama too…

I already had visions of rabid OpenSource believers camping in front of the AOL headquarters, campfires burning and chanting bash scripts, ready to storm the entrance with a giant rubber penguin if their demands aren’t met.

(Sheesh, I really have to stop drinking six cans of Diet Coke a day)