Vista - IBM hates Linux (by Oracle)--further Linux fragmentation

Not good for the Linux franchise.

RL

This weekend's Herald Tribune-

BOSTON (Reuters) - IBM (IBM.N: Quote, Profile , Research) is not
ready
to guarantee that its computer programs are compatible with Oracle
Corp.'s (ORCL.O: Quote, Profile , Research) recently launched version
of the Linux operating system, an IBM spokesman said on Friday.

This means that if IBM software programs turn out to be incompatible
with Oracle Enterprise Linux, then it will be up to Oracle -- and not
IBM -- to resolve the issue, said IBM spokesman Matthew McMahon.

Oracle, which started selling Linux in October, has said its product
is identical to one from Red Hat Inc. (RHT.N: Quote, Profile ,
Research), the No. 1 vendor of the popular open-source operating
system, and will seamlessly run software written for the Red Hat
system.

But financial and industry analysts have said that software buyers
want outside assurances to back up that claim before they will switch
to Oracle.

IBM may one day support Oracle Linux. "We are going to wait and see
if
there is traction in the marketplace," McMahon said. "If clients want
it (Oracle), then we will support it."

IBM guarantees its products will work with Red Hat's version of
Linux.

"What Red Hat is selling to the customer is peace of mind. Oracle
cannot do that because it is unable to certify comparability," said
Trip Chowdhry, an analyst with Global Equities Research.
Continued...

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