Considering Linux You had better Look at WhoWhat Is Supporting it. 4160

For the record, InfoWorld gave the Linux community an award for "Best Support in the industry". That was back in 1998, and the situation has improved since then.

One could look at a Linux distribution as a single product, but a more accurate point of view is that a Linux distribution is thousands of products shipped and distributed on a single DVD or package of CD-ROMS.

Look at the hundreds of patches and security fixes that get the system upgraded. Linux distributors are very good at getting these updates to their customers, those who don't tend to lose customers, or don't see much revenue.

There are many of those products shipped with Linux distributions that are also available in commercial versions. Often the commercial versions include additional support, more features, and special "paying customers only" plug-ins and tools.

One very simple but dramatic example is Eclipse. Eclipse is included on most Linux distributions and pretty darn good all by itself. If you want to put up some cash, you can get WebSphere 5.x or WebSphere 6.x and get Eclipse with a fully functional J2EE and a number of other great tools and features. For some bigger bucks you can add WMQ, Workflow (Orchestrator) and other features.