The report, citing an interview with Oracle's chief executive officer,
Larry Ellison, 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.
"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, Oracle had considered buying Novell, which after Red Hat is the biggest distributor of Linux.
News source: CNet
