Debian goes commercial on VA Linux servers (OT)
I hope this will be of interest to you. I know it's off-topic but it
interested me and I've got the same interests as you...
---------- On 2000-10-19 05:59, NW on Linux wrote: ----------
Subject: Debian goes commercial on VA Linux servers
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2000 22:59:29 -0500
From: "NW on Linux" <Linux@bdcimail.com>
To: <russell@coker.com.au>
NETWORK WORLD FUSION FOCUS: PHIL HOCHMUTH
on LINUX
10/18/00 - Today's focus: Debian goes commercial on VA Linux servers
Dear Russell Coker,
In this issue:
* VA Linux goes for a distribution other than Red Hat
* Experts Exchange
* Links related to Linux
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Today's focus: Debian goes commercial on VA Linux servers
---------------------------------------------
By Phil Hochmuth
VA Linux Systems, a company that only sells servers installed
with Linux, has made a killing selling a customized version of
Red Hat Linux on its Pentium-based boxes, more than tripling
its revenue over the last 3 years. But last week, the company
decided to diversify its Linux support by offering the Debian
Linux distribution on its 2200 line of rack-mountable servers.
Red Hat Linux has pretty much ruled the roost in terms of
acceptance as an alternative server operating system to Windows
NT/2000, NetWare and Unix. By far the largest and most well-
known Linux company, Red Hat has become synonymous with Linux.
The best-selling commercial Linux distribution can be purchased
pre-installed on servers from vendors such as Compaq, Dell,
IBM, Hewlett-Packard and NEC.
Some server vendors have been slow to certify different Linux
distributions for their servers. Dell offers only Red Hat on
its line of PowerEdge servers, as does NEC. HP is in the
process of testing Caldera, SuSE and TurboLinux on its PC
server lines, but Red Hat currently is the only certified
distribution on its menu.
Debian is one of the more developed GNU/Linux distributions and
is actually older than Red Hat Linux. It is one of the most
popular noncommercial Linux distributions, used widely by Linux
and open-source developers throughout the world. Because it is
not packaged and sold by any one corporation, the software has
been slow to make headway into enterprise networks. Until
recently, after all, corporate IT managers were hesitant to
implement even the slickly packaged and professionally
supported commercial distributions out on the market.
Many large Linux companies, including Red Hat and VA Linux,
have hired the brightest minds in the open-source software
community as full-time Linux developers. While these commercial
Linux distributions still draw from the open-source community
for code contributions and testing, what goes into each release
is controlled closely by each company.
Debian is different in that there is no Debian ?corporate
headquarters? or full-time development team per se; the
distribution is maintained by more than 500 volunteers
worldwide. There is a ?Debian Constitution? which governs how
decisions are made on Debian?s development by the volunteer
members of the Debian Project. This process makes the
development of Debian more inclusive and closer to the ideals
of free and open-source software.
The new servers VA Linux is selling are based on Debian 2.2.
More than 3,800 different software packages can be installed,
including Web serving software such as Apache, e-mail servers,
network administration tools, Kerberos security software and
Web scripting tools such as Python and PHP3. Debian 2.2 also
features ?Apt-get,? an Internet-based automatic software
upgrade utility. The tool lets system administrators easily
identify, download and install software updates to a single
server, or to a whole network of machines.
To contact Phil Hochmuth:
-------------------------
Phil Hochmuth is a writer and researcher for Network World, and
a former systems integrator. You can reach him at
mailto:phochmut@nww.com.
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Got a technical question related to Linux on your corporate
network? Post it at Experts Exchange on Fusion at
http://nwfusion.experts-exchange.com/. Another network
professional may have the solution to your problem.
VA Linux?s new Debian offering:
http://www.valinux.com/software/debian/
More about the Debian distribution:
http://www.debian.org
Press release: VA Linux introduces Debian-based 2U servers,
10/11/00
http://www.valinux.com/about/news/releases/101100.html
Other Linux articles on Network World Fusion:
Atipa tackles open-source network management, Network World,
10/16/00
http://www.nwfusion.com/archive/2000/109029_10-16-2000.html
Breaking Linux news from Network World and around the 'Net,
updated daily: http://www.nwfusion.com/topics/linux.html
Archive of the Linux newsletter:
http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/linux/index.html
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