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Oracle Considered Buying Novell, May Roll Own Linux Version

Oracle Corp. is considering launching a version of the Linux operating system and has looked at buying one of the two firms dominating the technology, according to a Richard Waters interview for the Financial Times newspaper. The report said the move would redraw the software landscape and open a new front in Oracle's long rivalry with U.S. rival Microsoft. It said Ellison told the newspaper that Oracle wanted to sell a full range of software that, like Microsoft, included both operating system and applications.

"I'd like to have a complete stack," Ellison was quoted as saying. To a question on whether Red Hat will build a "stack" of open source software, Larry was quoted as saying, "that's what I would do if I were running Red Hat..."

"We're missing an operating system. You could argue that it makes a lot of sense for us to look at distributing and supporting Linux."

The report said that like IBM, Oracle has counted on Linux -- an open source system whose code is open to anyone to view and adapt -- to act as a counterweight to Microsoft's Windows, which has expanded rapidly from desktop PCs into corporate IT systems.

As part of a recent study of the open-source software market, Ellison told the newspaper that Oracle had considered buying Novell Inc., which after Red Hat Inc. is the biggest distributor of Linux.


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