The open source wave is changing the game... it's a support based business. Who can provide the best support and in the end the users win with higher quality software and support at lower cost.

Whether Oracle or Red Hat will generate more revenue from Linux support remains to be seen, but it is likely that the big winners will be enterprises and Linux itself, said Jupiter Research analyst Joseph Wilcox.

"Red Hat could win and lose at the same time, since installations could increase, but its support revenue could go down," he said.

Even if Red Hat suffers, Wilcox suggested, Oracle's move is a good thing, especially given Microsoft's ongoing attacks against Linux and its "hidden costs."

"Oracle coming into the market with this shows that another heavy hitter is willing to add more credibility for Linux," said Wilcox. "One of Microsoft's biggest points of attack is about Linux's support costs, and this could lower those prices through increased competition."

We at Longview Software continue to track these events closely as we leverage both Unix/Oracle and Linux/Redhat software to provide solutions to the CSP market. What we have seen is a decade of solid Unix/Oracle as the reference architecture for the mission-critical Operational Support System (OSS) functions. This may change over the next 10-years.

In the telecommunications OSS arena we do see more requests for Linux based solutions at the fringes (i.e.: Gateway Machines) where remote monitoring and management is required. The question however is if Linux will begin to take on the central mission-critical OSS servers. Unix/Oracle has a proven track record - if it works - why invest the time and resource to change - the disruption in the market will be driven by cost savings and potentially a shift in the market to Next Generation OSS based upon Service Oriented Architectures.... time will tell.

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