SVN's ode to the Linux companies who might have lived...
Steven J. Vaughan Nichols talks about five Linux companies who helped the industry, but couldn't help themselves. I, too, wish that (most of) these companies were still around, getting the credit that was/is their due.
I really liked this Steven J. Vaughan Nichols article on five Linux companies he feels deserved to live. Or, at least, didn't deserve to die. I don't agree with each of his choices, but I completely agree with him on Caldera and Ransom Love (who is a prince of a man):
As for Caldera, some people didn't like that that it was treating Linux as a business - my how things have changed! - but Caldera Linux was great Linux. For many years, Caldera Linux was my favorite Linux both on servers and desktops.
Let's also not forget that while Ransom Love was in charge of Caldera's fate, he intended to take the best features of Unix and combine them with Linux. If the Canopy Group hadn't eased Love out and replaced him with Darl McBride, we'd be talking about SCO as the Linux company.
I still see Ransom once a year or so. He's doing well and doing great things (related to genealogy and the technology powering it). I just wish the industry would have recognized his contributions several years ago. Still, SVN's article does fitting, if belated, justice to him and to the other Linux pioneers who helped the industry, if not themselves.