anyone have a clue to where this project is heading? Does anyone know which was

the first OS to boot on the IA-64? No prizes for guessing that - Linux,

of course!

In such a situation, where Linux is being improved upon every day by

thousands of programmers worldwide, it did make sense for a company like SCO

to adopt Linux, rather than try to compete with it.

This is also good for the Unix industry, as a whole, which has been talking

about standardization since the time Unix began getting fragmented.

Same kernel

This is because, unlike the different Unix flavors, all the Linux distributions

have the same kernel. The core of the operating system is controlled by none

other than Linus Torvalds.

This has ensured, to an extent, that applications written for one distribution

of Linux runs on another. This happens most of the time, except when some Linux

distributions have moved away and come up with their own standards.

To address this problem, Linux companies have formed the Linux Standards Base

that will ensure participating companies will make sure their distributions

follow a unified standard.

One last thing for you to chew on before I sign off! Did you know which company

holds a good amount of stake in SCO?

Microsoft!

Prakash Advani is the founder and CEO of FreeOS.com. He can be contacted at