Allaire Corp has become the latest player to announce support for the Linux operating system. The company promises that future releases of its ColdFusion web application server will support the base version of Linux as well as popular commercial distributions of the open source hacker OS. Allaire says R&D is under way. Linux site Slashdot.org comments that the lack of a definite release date can be traced to ColdFusion’s reliance on third party products that will have to be ported or replaced. Allaire is also boasting of its appointment to the Hewlett- Packard Company’s Covision program. This initiative was designed to marry key independent software vendors with the appropriate hardware from HP for resale through HP’s channel partners (CI No 3,481). Allaire’s ColdFusion application server 4.0, ColdFusion Studio 4.9 and HomeSite 4.0 have been singled out for the Covision treatment. All of which raises an intriguing question. Now that Netscape has bought Kiva, Sun Microsystems has bought NetDynamics and BEA, WebLogic; Allaire remains, with, Silverstream, Bluestone and a handful of others, the last of the independent web application server companies. Before WebLogic disappeared into BEA’s hungry maw, WebLogic executives let slip some broad hints that HP was out looking for a web application server (CI No 3,488)(NBD 09/03/98). Did BEA win WebLogic right from under HP’s nose? And more to the point, is HP now trying the same moves on Allaire? Allaire didn’t return our calls, while HP declined to comment.
