IBM-Red Hat Deal Opens Window on Corporate Challenges

Dec 21 1998

In a story labeled "exclusive" and published online late in the day Friday, three reporters from ZD's Smart Reseller revealed that IBM is exploring a deal with freeware company Red Hat that will see IBM service and support Red Hat's version of Linux. The story, which examined a particularly unsexy part of the Internet business - server software - did a good job laying out what's at stake in the deal. According to the report, the primary stumbling block to the widespread corporate acceptence of Linux has been the the lack of full-scale, 24-hour-a-day service and support. If the IBM deal goes through, that obstacle would disappear.

Toward the bottom of the piece, reporters Mary Jo Foley, Ed Sperling and Esther Schindler noted that IBM has quietly supported commercially available versions of Linux that now run on IBM RS/6000 systems. But the IBM deal apparently requires IBM's legal team to feel comfortable that if they or their clients change the source code, no patent, copyright or other liability would arise. It's a fascinating look at a major enterprise-computing player fighting to come to grips with freeware.

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