Portals for Linux open up

The surge in interest in the Linux operating system is spurring development in another area: portals for Linux users.

Red Hat Software, a provider of Linux software, today announced that the company's site would serve as a new Linux portal that provides access the latest news, support information, and software for the increasingly popular operating system.

Just yesterday, VA Research opened up its own portal site, which will eventually include archives, technical information, and news dedicated to the Unix-like operating system located at the coveted Linux.com domain name.

Meanwhile, Linuxcare said it was adding search engine technology to its site that searches, retrieves, and indexes all current Linux technical support information available on the Web "into one efficient mega-repository."

While the audience for Linux won't turn Red Hat or VA Research into the next Yahoo anytime soon, the number of potential viewers is growing rapidly. Red Hat said that there are more than 10 million users who currently run the Linux operating system, making it the fastest-growing server operating environment in 1998 based on International Data Corporation surveys.

The newly opened www.linux.com Web site was so popular on its first day, the site involuntarily shut down.

Among the information Red Hat said it would aggregate on its site:

An "Application Index" which compiles a list of hundreds of the most popular Linux applications, including Apache, Corel's WordPerfect, and Oracle 8, and others.

A "Linux Index," which provides links to the other Linux resources on the Internet, including distributors, application vendors, third-party support pages and educational institutions.

Links to user groups that gives users contact information for user groups worldwide.

A search engine, which lets users perform keyword searches on all the Linux sites on the Internet.