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View Full Version : AOL in Talks to Buy Red Hat Linux

Bugs Bunny
20th January 2002, 06:12
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20020119/tc/tech_redhat_aoltimewarner_dc_1.html


This would be a potential big deal if it comes to pass. Lord knows AOL can't code their way out of a paper bag, but they do have the clout of their umpteenth millions of subscribers. Linux have a great code base, but no vehicle to reach the masses. If the two can get their asses in gear and work together, MS will have a little more to keep them up at night.
MaTTeR
20th January 2002, 17:18
Please!!! Say it isn't so
UHT
20th January 2002, 18:22
thats another program going down the same rocky road as icq then :(
Bugs Bunny
21st January 2002, 06:47
No offense, but it's pretty ignorant to equate an operating system to a chat utility.

Red Hat isn't Linux. It's only one distributor, albeit the most visible one. Red Hat being sucked into AOL will not change Linux any, other than to give the OS more visibility, more mindshare in the mainstream. That is a good thing, regardless of what happens to Red Hat.
MaTTeR
21st January 2002, 07:01
@Bugs Bunny

Of course this won't change Linux itself but the problem is the change it will make to RH. IMO RH is by far the most stable and user friendly distro. I could care less about the visibilty it gets, I just hope it stays stable and fast :)
Bugs Bunny
21st January 2002, 07:10
>Of course this won't change Linux itself but the problem is the change it will make to RH. IMO RH is by far the most stable and user friendly distro. I could care less about the visibilty it gets, I just hope it stays stable and fast :)


I'm wondering if we're talking about the same Red Hat. "Fast" isn't a word I'd describe the RH distro. It is the Windows of Linux, and I don't mean that in a complementary way. User-friendly? May be, but then so is SuSe. And any shell RH can come up with, is by definition also available for other distros. The bottom line is there are lots of distros when it comes to Linux, and no one of them is so essential that Linux can't do without.

I myself run Slackware. Of the hardcore Linux blokes I know, none would be caught dead with RH. It's probably good for noobs.. and so is AOL. There you go then, a marriage made in heaven!