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Technology Stocks : Corel - Investors with no Humor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: A. Reader who wrote (793)	9/28/1998 1:56:00 PM
From: Dave Sullivan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1094

Jesse Berst, Editorial Director ZDNet AnchorDesk Okay, I admit it. Linux could be gaining momentum faster than I expected. I've always said that Linux could become a serious challenger to Microsoft's Windows NT. This summer, I laid out the three steps necessary to make that happen. Click for more. But I was skeptical those steps would happen in time. Now it looks like Linux will get at least part of what it needs this very week. Here's what's going on. Validation from Microsoft. Last week, in a filing to the Security and Exchange Commission, Microsoft emphasized what its executives had admitted in recent interviews. It now views Linux as serious competition to Windows NT. Click for more. A better interface. Today, Caldera ships Open Linux 1.3. The $59 shrinkwrap upgrade includes a graphical interface that resembles Windows. Big-name, big-money backers. Tomorrow, Intel and Netscape will announce their investment in Linux distributor Red Hat. Click for more. Two venture capital firms are also putting money into the North Carolina company. The deals have important implications: "Respectability" and credibility thanks to validation from two of the industry's powerhouses The financial resources to let Red Hat create serious enterprise versions and add-ons The possible emergence of a de facto "favorite" version of Linux Further estrangement between Intel and Microsoft due to Intel's support of a rival OS Now the Linux alliance needs to build on this momentum by 1) rallying around a single graphical interface and 2) persuading major software vendors to build Linux versions. If they can do that, they will build the all-important perception of success that could propel Linux into the mainstream. In a "winner-takes-almost-all" market like this one, perception is reality. If customers think a product is going to become the standard, they will buy it. And if they buy it, it becomes the winner.