The question about Linux is how do you make money on free software? Without a business plan Linux could go the way of the dot-com bubble. SCO has been suing everything Linux hoping to produce a business plan out of a legal one. They dared the commercial Linux destributors to offer what is known as indemnification — holding the consumers of Linux legally harmless. Here's the response from the Linux vendors:
"Our customers need the ability to use Linux code without interruption, and developers have to keep working on open-source software," Bryan Sims, vice president of business development at Red Hat, told NewsFactor.
The company has been offering such protection to its customers for some time, he said, but decided to make a formal announcement. Sims said the assurance program was not a specific response to recent attacks by the SCO Group against Linux providers. "This is recognition of what it takes to put out a good product," he maintained.
The top Linux vendor, Red Hat becomes the third major Linux provider -- joining HP and Novell -- to offer some form of indemnification to its customers. Novell, which recently purchased Linux developer SuSE, last week began offering protection for copyright-infringement claims made by third parties against SuSE Linux Enterprise Server software.
Now business has a very good reason to spend money. The free version carries a risk. Thus, SCO in its attempt to kill Linux may have saved it.
Comments