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Sun Microsystems says it will stop developing its own Linux distribution for x86 and will instead support other vendors' distributions. If you're a Sun customer and/or are interested in Linux, this is good news.

Historically, Sun has maintained control of its operating systems and attempted to do so with Linux, even though it offers support to the open-source community. On the flip side, there are excellent distributions available from companies whose only job is to make sure their distributions work well and install cleanly.

Sun's decision to scrap its Linux distribution should appeal to enterprises that were understandably nervous about an open-source operating system being controlled by a hardware vendor.

Now, Sun shops can go with their "Linux of choice" and deploy it with confidence that they will not have to keep a separate distribution on their Sun computers. If you're a Sun customer, keep an eye on Sun's choices so you can make your enterprise Linux plans accordingly.

If you're not a Sun customer, this gives you one more reason to consider the vendor. Standardization on the most popular Linux distributions means that IT people trained in your company's chosen Linux brand won't have to learn about another variant for Sun computers. Once your staff is Linux-trained, you can buy your x86 computers based on business needs, quality and cost--the criteria that should be fueling your decisions.

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