AOL in negotiations to buy Red Hat
just saw this:
<a href="http://www.msnbc.com/news/690661.asp?0si=-"; target="_blank">http://www.msnbc.com/news/690661.asp?0si=-</a>;
<a href="http://www.msnbc.com/news/690661.asp?0si=-"; target="_blank">http://www.msnbc.com/news/690661.asp?0si=-</a>;
Comments
Interesting. Perhaps the OS market will become a two-party one after all: Linux vs. Windows. Like Republican vs. Democrat. Sure, there is always the Mac OS like we have the Reform party in the US. Now, if AOL can take a big hardware deal from MS -- Compaq or Sony for example, then we might have an interesting fight.
Seems like a distinct possibility that each OS could line up with a distinct hardware manufacturer in the end: Mac with Apple (duh), Dell with Windows, Compaq or Sony with AOL. That could be good or bad for Apple. Either they are just plain overwhelmed by the size power and resources of both AOL and MS, or it levels the playing field for them.
Edit: Now with printer friendly goodness.
[ 01-19-2002: Message edited by: glurx ]</p>
AOL users are the type who are very accustomed to MS Office and would be totally out in the cold if they have to use something else.
Unless AOL can write a word-clone for their Linux... It's going to be very difficult for them to pull this off.
<strong>Unless AOL can write a word-clone for their Linux... It's going to be very difficult for them to pull this off.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Or they could take the free OpenOffice or AbiWord, make a modification here and there, and sell it as their own. <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
There is a great article on Fortune.com that puts this in perspective:
<a href="http://www.fortune.com/indexw.jhtml?channel=artcol.jhtml&doc_id=204823&pa ge=4&_DARGS=%2Fartcol.jhtml.4_A&_DAV=artcol.jhtml" target="_blank">http://www.f ortune.com/indexw.jhtml?channel=artcol.jhtml&doc_id=204823&pa ge=4&_DARGS=%2Fartcol.jhtml.4_A&_DAV=artcol.jhtml</a>
Basically everyone, even Scottt McNealy, have come to the realization that Microsoft is free to crush anyone they want and .NET is orders of magnitude more powerful than Windows is now. Anyone who does computer transactions, from banks to credit card companies to eBay, is afraid that Microsoft can take over or take a piece of their business. And I personally think it's obvious there is only one way that this will be resolved. Everyone will band together and build and give away a free Windows clone. When you consider that a small company like Lindows plans to offer Windows compatibility, I don't think this is a big deal.
AOL is a big conservative corporation. There is no way they are going to try to build their own OS and spend years trying to win people over. It just doesn't make sense. And people don't buy a computer just to run AOL. They may like it but they won't give up Windows just to run AOL. And people want to use AOL while they are running other Windows programs. They aren't going to restart the machine just to run AOL.
I don't think AOL would have any interest in competing with M$ as a Windows vendor. And the rest of the big corporations aren't going to let AOL dominate them instead of Microsoft. The only common sense solution is just for the rest of the world to free themselves by offering a free Windows clone. If they did they'ed have huge support. For example, the Fortune article says that Microsoft recently demanded some of the profits from Kodak's online service. Why would Kodak offer their service for Windows when they could offer it for the Windows clone and make more money? I think we will see Windows compatibility freed from Microsoft. And if that's done using a Linux base, that's a huge win for Apple with it's Unix based OS.
[ 01-19-2002: Message edited by: spindler ]</p>
AOL would have to give away Red Hat if they want to avoid a legal fight.
Apple and AOL teamed up in the late 80s, early 90s for this project known as 'eWorld'. Under this agreement, Apple agreed to fund an AOL backed ISP service, and in exchange, AOL got a broader subscriber base.
eWorld ultimately failed and all of its subscribers were changed to AOL. In this deal, reportedly, Apple had to agree that they would not enter the ISP business for themselves. AOL also, reportedly, had to agree that they would not sell products that would compete with Apple. This is what I remember reading quite some time ago, and I thought it was fairly interesting.
Any way, if AOL does end up buying Red Hat, I wonder if this 'agreement' is still in effect. But if AOL gives away copies of Red Hat, then this argument doesn't apply any way.
I just wonder what AOL has to gain from Red Hat. <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
1. marketing.
2. consumer-friendly interface.
3. unlimited cash backing.
gosh, i wonder if aol could offer all... uh, never mind.
it only makes sense that aol, which is already subscription based, would try and beat them to market with the same thing. most people only use their computers for browsing, emails, etc.
look at what aol's been doing the past few years. they have a calendar built in (entourage). they started doing photos online. they essentially are a word processor of some sort already. they're trying to capture an application providing service before ms does. it's the battle royale in tech for the near future. sit back and open a beer. should be interesting.
<strong>but help linux's exposure among the public.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yeah but isn't OS X supposed to be the Unix for the rest of us? Doesn't Apple want OS X to take linux's place and be what it wasn't? The power of Unix with a nice GUI. <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
[ 01-20-2002: Message edited by: imacSE ]</p>