[Am-info] AOL in Negotiations to Buy Red Hat

[Mitch Stone]

--- From a message sent by Paul Rickard on 1/20/02 1:11 PM ---

>>So if AOL buys Red Hat, will that force m$ to be more receptive to AOL?  
>>Does AOL even have software that will run on Linux?  
>
>     They apparently have it (see the Gateway appliance message) but it 
>isn't available to the general public, far as I know. But more receptive 
>over Linux than over the ISP? Doubtful. What is AOL going to do, drop 
>Windows support in favor of Linux? That's handing the market to MSN. I 
>see no way for AOL to leverage RedHat against Microsoft more than RedHat 
>itself already leverages its products against them.

All I ever saw were some boxes -- mockups, really. Steve Case held them 
up at a keynote address I attended at InternetWorld 2000. Later, in the 
press conference, we learned that they were to be Linux-powered and 
available by Christmas (of 2000, that was). Presumably they were adapting 
Gecko technologies, which was just about the sum-total of what they got 
from Netscape, to these devices. How Red Hat might figure into this is 
anybody's guess.

Another possible (and more encouraging) speculative scenario: AOL pumps 
money into Red Hat, helps them develop a strong "brand" and uses that to 
leverage the big box makers into selling retail Linux boxes. Far-fetched, 
perhaps, but something to consider. All this assumes Steve Case really 
wants to go mano-a-mano with Bill Gates.

 Mitch Stone  
 mitch@accidentalexpert.com