Steve Barrett writes:

> For those of you using (or planning to use) Linux, support for most
>  distributions is now available via a new Web site -
>  http://www.linuxcare.com.  This site was announced to begin March 1.
>  However, it seems to be currently active.

In this general topic, IBM announced the following today:

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ARMONK, N.Y. (Feb. 18)-- International Business Machines Corp., the world's
largest computer company, will form a partnership with Red Hat Software Inc.
to bolster support for the increasingly popular Linux operating system.

Red Hat, the leading U.S. developer and distributor of Linux, and IBM will
fine-tune computers to run Red Hat Linux. The software will run on IBM's
desktop and notebook personal computers as well as its servers and
workstations based on Intel Corp. processors. IBM and Red Hat also will help
businesses maintain the operating system in their corporate networks.

Linux, software developed in 1991 by Linus Torvalds, then a student at the
University of Helsinki, has made inroads as an alternative to more established
operating systems such as Unix and Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT. Unlike
Windows NT or Unix, Linux lets developers tinker with its basic code to
improve the performance of businesses' software applications.

``This (agreement) creates a lot of credibility for an operating system that's
been looked at as an alternative,'' said Stacey Quandt, an analyst at Giga
Information Group Inc., a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based research firm.

Companies such as Internet service providers with in-house software developers
prodded IBM to modify its computers to run Linux, said Phil Hester, chief
technology officer of Armonk, New York-based IBM's Personal Systems Group,
which develops IBM PCs.

``Customers are asking for this,'' Hester said. ``The agreement is our
foundation for entering into the Linux marketplace.''

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Wirt Atmar