IBM Visionary Weighs In On SCO Dispute, Novell's Ximian Buy
Wladawsky-Berger, general manager of e-business on demand at IBM, shared some thoughts on the SCO dispute, Novell's purchase of Linux software vendor Ximian and the future adoption of Linux on the desktop.
When asked if IBM would contribute to a fund set up by Red Hat Monday to protect Linux customers that may come under legal fire over the SCO licensing dispute--or whether it would come up with its own plan to indemnify customers against legal actions--Wladawsky-Berger was evasive.
He said IBM was "working very hard" to come up with a solution to the SCO lawsuit, which many feel could deter Linux growth if customers fear legal action from SCO if they use the open-source operating system. "We continue to look at everything we need to do, and are working with colleagues across the industry," Wladawsky-Berger said. "There is a tremendous amount of activity on that front."
The IBM executive was less taciturn on Novell's announcement Monday that it purchased Ximian, a privately held Linux desktop and groupware provider. Wladawsky-Berger said the deal likely will help spread the use of Linux on the desktop--an area that to date has not had as much success as server-based Linux, industry observers said.
"I would think that having a company with Novell's reach--not just its development [team] but its tremendous channel--that has to help a lot," Wladawsky-Berger said. "I think [the deal] will have a big impact on the client."
In fact, Wladawsky-Berger said IBM's own plans to support Linux clients with its Lotus e-mail and groupware is "going much faster than anticipated."
"That's often the reaction to projects on Linux [because] it's a good OS," he said. "That's why things grow faster."
Wladawsky-Berger said he also expects Linux adoption to grow in the mobile device market, in data management products and in the grid computing space.