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The idea is simple: Build a common platform that lets software and hardware vendors focus their development, certification and deployment efforts. Business customers, meanwhile, won’t have to worry so much about Linux compatibility and support.

Will there be a price tag? Sure. But at the end of the day, each distribution vendor will provide its own set of value-added applications, built on the UnitedLinux base, to justify the cost.

Still, the founders have left out a few details. For starters, UnitedLinux is only for servers, not desktops. Caldera, for one, is considering a per-seat licensing scheme (similar to the one used with its 3.0 release). Of course, the source will be free, but you'll probably have to pay for binaries.

It's not unusual to charge for a Linux distribution; the major vendors do it now. What is unusual is the Microsoft Windows-like per-seat licensing. One reason companies consider Linux is to get away from such licensing headaches. SuSE says it won't distribute UnitedLinux with per-seat licensing and will offer a developer's version of the binaries to ensure that developers will be able to write specifically for the distribution and certify their apps for the UnitedLinux platform. This alleviates some concerns, but other vendors must follow suit. Meanwhile, Free Software Foundation founder Richard Stallman is exhorting open-source developers to stay away from the UnitedLinux project. If they do, UnitedLinux will go nowhere.