There s an element of vindication, says Ransom Love, CEO of Utah-based Caldera Systems, a Linux distributor and support service provider. He remembers getting a cold shoulder from investors who could see no future for a firm providing free software. Linux advocates say a major reason the system is taking off now is because businesses are beginning to realize that even though no single company owns the Linux source code, they can still obtain the training and technical support they ve come to expect from manufacturers of proprietary operating systems. Not only has Windows dominated the market, users were unable to look under the hood as it were to fix bugs or customize systems. There s a reaction to Microsoft, says Love.
People don t want to be held hostage.
Thanks to the constant contributions from programmers honing Linux, advocates claim the free software has proven to be more reliable than closed source stuff coming from firms like Microsoft or Sun. This position seems to be supported by a study conducted last January. SecurityPortal, a Web site specializing in security issues, found Red Hat, a major Linux distributor, released bug fixes an average of 11.2 days after glitches were noticed considerably faster than the 16.1 days for Microsoft or three months for Sun. Price is another Linux lure for computer system managers. Since it can be freely copied only one copy is required something that results in huge savings.