Linux distribution: Caldera OpenLinux, Red Hat

CALDERA OPENLINUX

Caldera Systems sells two flavors of OpenLinux: an end-user-targeted version generally called OpenLinux eDesktop OpenLinux and a server version called openLinux eServer.
 Special attention was made to usability and functionality in openLinux. For instace, the desktop environment, although not a clone of Windows95/98/NT, is probably familiar enough to make migration from Windows systems relatively painless-at least from a graphical user interface (GUI) standpoint. The sharp edges that plague many other Linux distributions have been smoothed down to make OpenLinux more usable, yet power users who like command prompts still have access to the guts of the system, just as they always have.
 OpenLinux has perhaps the most user-friendly installer on the market, with very easy to understand dialigs and some clever features (like a video game you can play while waiting for the install to finish). It also includes a wonderful Web-based configuration utility, Webmin.
 It provides fewer package than many distributions, and the packages tend to be the older, most stable versions. This is a good and bad thing. Fewer packages means fewer ways to do the same thing (which means less confusion for new users). It also means that OpenLinux can ensure a higher a higher level of integration and more stable software than many distributions. On the other hand, OpenLinux tends to be behind the curve in terms of cutting-edge packages. If you want a rock-solid, easy to configure distribution, then OpenLinux is a great choise. But if you want to live more on the technological edge, OpenLinux might be too tame for your tastes. As with all things in the Linux world, this seems to be changing, and the next releases of openLinux may very well be more aggressive.

 RED HAT

In the early days of Caldera, they sold a Linux package called Caldera Network Desktop. This system was essentially Red Hat's version 2.1 distribution with some commercial enhancements that provided NetWare connectivity and a graphical drag-and-drop desktop, among other things. Some of the early development of Red Hat's RPM packaging utility and some of the graphic administration utilities were originally produced with financial help from Caldera, primarily for the release of Caldera Network Desktop (of course, Red Hat used these updated utilities in their distribution as well.

 This particular system was only released once. After version 1.0 was sold for a few years, Red Hat and Caldera amiably parted ways. Since then, Red Hat has gone on to become one of the most popular Linux distributions available. Many of the utilities that were used in their early distributions (including the RPM packaging utility and some of the graphic administration utilities) have persevered and are still included in their distributions today.

 Red Hat traditionally focused on the cutting-edge market, appealing to individual users, hobbyists, and hackers. In recent years, however, this has changed. Red Hat has become a very commercially savvy company, focused on business partnerships and support contracts. software vendors support first. Rational's Clearcase, a critical tool for software configuration management at leading companies such as Cisco Systems and Nortel, is now sold for Linux. Rational only supports it on Red Hat 6.2 though. Linux is no longer only for free software, as a look at Clearcase's licensing coasts will assure you.