X

Desktop Linux company wins funding

Helix Code, a company hoping adoption of Linux by desktop users will be a profitable business, has changed its name to Ximian and has won $15 million in venture capital.

Stephen Shankland Former Principal Writer
Stephen Shankland worked at CNET from 1998 to 2024 and wrote about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
Expertise Processors, semiconductors, web browsers, quantum computing, supercomputers, AI, 3D printing, drones, computer science, physics, programming, materials science, USB, UWB, Android, digital photography, science. Credentials
  • Shankland covered the tech industry for more than 25 years and was a science writer for five years before that. He has deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and more.
See full bio
Stephen Shankland
Helix Code, a company hoping adoption of Linux by desktop users will be a profitable business, has changed its name to Ximian and has won $15 million in venture capital.

Charles River Ventures and Battery Ventures invested the money in the Cambridge, Mass., company, which hopes its easy-to-use desktop software for Linux will provide connections to e-commerce business partners who'll pay for the service.

Linux, while popular on servers run by technically sophisticated administrators, is still generally accepted to be too complex for average computer users. In addition, Microsoft Office, by far the dominant software suite for programs such as word processing, isn't available. However, Linux is making gradual inroads into the desktop operating system market.

Ximian faces competition from Eazel, another start-up banking on easy-to-use Linux and services. In addition, Red Hat, the top Linux operating system company, has its own services to try to make Linux less of a chore.

But not all is easy in the Linux world, despite the popularity of the clone of the Unix operating system.

TuxTops, a company that specialized in selling laptops with Linux, is leaving the hardware business to focus on a new, unannounced software product, CEO Graham Hine said in a Jan. 12 announcement.