Back in September, IBM Corp promised to deliver DB2 on Linux by the end of the year (CI No 3,502). Apparently, demand from internet service providers and educational institutions has kept the company honest with respect to its self-imposed deadline. From December 7, IBM says it will offer a beta test version of its DB2 Universal Database Developer’s Edition for Linux. Colleges and universities will get Linux ports of the database free through the DB2 Scholar’s Program, designed to win the hearts and minds of computer scientists before they graduate. Not satisfied with that, IBM wants corporate customers to consider the product as well, arguing that using DB2 on Linux with IBM Net.Data for internet access delivers better performance than ordinary gateway interface applications.
