Backers of Linux have a new ally in communications giant Motorola. The deal with Red Hat makes Linux applications available to Motorola clients building Internet infrastructure applications and wireless networks.

Dozens of distributions are stepping into the U.S. ring. But only two heavyweights, Red Hat and Caldera, pack serious business punch.

This unlikely method of developing software works amazingly well for a process that seems to resemble a form of voluntary socialism. How well will it stand up to the capitalist winds of change?

He has been evangelizing the open-source operating system since before it was a phenomenon. And these days it's growing beyond a mere fad to the point where even the big hardware vendors are dubbing it a strategic OS.

Some Linux vendors aim to bring real-time performance to applications where determinism is crucial.

Linux was never meant to be commercial. Linux was not supposed to be running nuclear simulations or decoding what makes our very being. But Linux is commercial and Linux is doing nuclear testing and Linux was used to map the human genome.

MainSoft and Microsoft have offically denied all involvement with a Windows - to - Unix port of Microsoft's Office and Outlook products. I don't think the world will ever see Office in any incarnation on Linux.

IBM will be boosting its support of the embedded Linux platform with Linux middleware for Bluetooth-enabled devices.

Wall Street is not buying the Linux pitch. Professional money managers have done little beyond pocketing quick gains after the gold rush last year of initial public offerings.

But a new OS, will mix Monterey with Linux.