But in 2001 and 2002, major vendors such as DellDell, HPHP, IBM, OracleOracle and Sun announced in various ways that they would begin supporting open-source products. IBM is leading the push. "We will guarantee the same [service-level agreements] for Linux that we do for proprietary OSs," says Dan Frye, director of IBM's Linux Technology Center. "Response times, fix times, uptime - we'll sign all those same contracts for Linux." Alles zu Dell auf CIO.de Alles zu HP auf CIO.de Alles zu Oracle auf CIO.de

Last summer, Oracle released an open-source version of its database to run on clusters of Linux servers - a popular way for CIOs to transition big, power-hungry applications and databases from expensive hardware like supercomputers and high-end Unix servers to groups of cheap Intel servers running Linux. Even Unix market leader Sun, which has the most to lose from the rise of cheap Intel server replacements for its more expensive Unix machines, now offers a Linux server. The only major vendor that continues to resist the march of open source is MicrosoftMicrosoft, though company officials have stopped calling open source "a cancer," as they did a few years ago, and now acknowledge Linux as a viable competitor. Alles zu Microsoft auf CIO.de

Vendors that have embraced open source haven't suddenly gone all soft and fuzzy. They see it as an opportunity to sell software that works with open source, as well as consulting, integration and support services. This is a major shift from a few years ago, when most vendors viewed open source as inconsequential. Now they see it as a loss leader for profitable services.

The strategy shift by the big vendors has opened the eyes of big company CIOs. "The way [open source] has been accepted and embraced by the IBMs and Suns has put it on our radar screen," says Judith Campbell, senior vice president and CIO of New York Life Insurance. "I like what I'm seeing because however this shakes out, it represents a flight to quality in software."

"My operations group is really very positive about using [open source]," says Sue Unger, senior vice president and CIO of Stuttgart, Germany-based DaimlerChrysler AG. "It requires less time to manage than [proprietary software]. Answers become apparent a lot easier, and they don't seem to need as many management tools as they've needed with other environments."