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Enhanced Linux is beefed-up shareware



> Enhanced Linux is beefed-up shareware
> 
> Source: Computerworld
> 
> Computerworld via Individual Inc. : Linux lives.
> 
> The Unix variant offered for free in stripped-down form over the
> Internet is being dressed in suit and tie and sent into the corporate
> world by Caldera, Inc.
> 
> Caldera, founded by former Novell, Inc. CEO Ray Noorda, has begun
> shipping Caldera Network Desktop 1.0, a $99 operating system designed
> to function as an Internet server.
> 
> Tony Iams, an analyst at D. H. Brown & Associates in Port Chester,
> N.Y., said Caldera is ``starting with a technical core that is
> maintained by freelancers and various enthusiasts.'' In fact, the
> development work on Linux continues on the Internet, with users
> downloading software, refining it and sending upgraded versions back
> onto the 'net for anyone to use.
> 
> But Caldera has gone one step further, trying to break into the
> Fortune 500 market with an alternative operating system that is a
> beefed-up version of shareware. ``Probably the most impressive thing
> about the product is that Caldera has undergone a significant effort
> to build a viable business solution based on Linux,'' Iams said.
> 
> Caldera Network Desktop is a NetWare client that works with Windows,
> DOS and flavors of Unix. It is being bundled with WordPerfect and
> Metro Link, Inc.'s Executive Motif Libraries. There is also a Caldera
> Internet Office suite that includes electronic mail and spreadsheets.
> 
> The Orem, Utah- based Caldera is offering technical support and trying
> to develop alliances with value-added resellers and independent
> software vendors.
> 
> The main attraction of Caldera Network Desktop is price, Iams said.
> The company has leveraged the fact that the kernel development was
> done for free into prices far below Windows NT at $699, Unix operating
> systems from SCO, Inc. at $1,295 or Sun Microsystems, Inc.'s Solaris
> at $1,995.
> 
> That's what drew Kerry Schwab, systems administrator at Southwest
> Airlines in Dallas, to Linux. Schwab said he inherited a project to
> put a reservation monitoring system on the Windows NT platform.
> 
> The project ran out of money, but Schwab was able to revive it by
> swapping operating systems and then buying preview versions of the
> Caldera product for $39. Even at the current $99, Linux is a bargain
> compared with the alternatives, Schwab said.
> 
> Dependable, but ...
> 
> The software has been dependable for its purpose, which is analyzing
> the performance of the airline's reservation system. But Linux still
> isn't ready for mission-critical applications, Schwab said. He said he
> would never dream of running the airline's actual reservation system
> on it, for example, because it doesn't have industrial-strength
> fail-safe and backup features.
> 
> And while Linux has its rabid fans, especially on college campuses, it
> still has a long way to go before making a dent in the corporate
> world. ``It's a nice piece of connectivity software,'' said James
> Greene, an analyst at Summit Strategies, Inc. in Boston. ``It's not
> clear to me exactly how they're positioning that connectivity.''
> 
> Iams said Linux has ``a fair number of users,'' but Caldera has its
> hands full going up against industry powerhouses such as Microsoft
> Corp. and Sun.

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