Linux Has a Nice Day
It was a day of positives for the Linux operating system. First off, "Linux bellwether" Red Hat, as ZDNet Interactive Investor described the software company, yesterday reported a smaller than expected loss for its first quarter (2 cents a share instead of 4 cents). It also reported a 95 percent increase in revenue, to $16 million, from $8.2 million a year ago.
What this means, company president and CEO Matt Szulik told any media outlet that asked, is, eventually, profitability. ZDNet's Interactive Investor recorded Szulik's comments that Red Hat hopes to reach the magic "p" word sometime in 2001 - a jump up from the end-of-2002 prediction the company made in its fourth-quarter conference call. "The stronger-than-expected numbers will likely buoy optimism that there are profits to be mined in the Linux industry," added CNET's News.com.
There was more positive news. MSNBC ran a sizable ZDNet article on Intel's plan to release an open source universal plug-and-play (UPnP) development kit for Linux. The technology, which the article notes was originated by Microsoft, enables different device types to communicate over a network using standard protocols. Intel's Linux and UPnP support are part of its "connected home" project, though the article was sparse on details about actual uses of the technology.
Finally, in another News.com report, Simon Lin, CEO of Acer Information Products Group, a Taiwanese manufacturer of electronic notebooks and other devices for domestic labels such as IBM, mentioned Linux's growing momentum as one of several reasons why he believes the Internet appliance market will not be Wintel-dominated. Not a bad day for the leading lawsuit-free OS. - Peg Wallace
Red Hat 1Q Loss Less Than Expected http://www.thestreet.com/brknews/software/962974.html
Red Hat Reports 95% Revenue Jump http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/current/rhat.htx
Red Hat Beats Estimates, Aims for Profit in 2001 http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-2084847.html
Red Hat Revenues are Red Hot http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2588854,00.html
Linux: Live In Your Living Room http://www.msnbc.com/news/421177.asp?cp1=1
Wintel Won't Dominate Devices, Exec Says http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-2084839.html