In 1998 Red Hat was continuing to gather together names of new allies and prospective supporters for its enterprise Linux. Several more of the usual suspects had joined the party: Netscape, Informix, Borland’s Interbase, Computer Associates (now CA), Software AG. These were the challengers in the Windows software market, the names to which the VARs attached extra discounts.
One Monday in July of that year, Oracle added its name to Red Hat’s list.
“That was a seminal moment,” recalled Dirk Hohndel, now VMware’s Chief Open Source Officer. He happened to be visiting the home of his good friend and colleague, Linus Torvalds — the man for whom Linux was named. A colleague of theirs, Jon “Maddog” Hall, burst in to deliver the news: Their project was no longer a weekend hobby.
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