Magic Software Enterprises, a vendor of rapid application development tools for AS/400, Unix and NT servers, has joined Linux International in an effort to help push its Linux development tools. It also wants customers in the midrange market to realize that they can choose Linux and get the same level of support if they don’t want OS/400, Unix or NT.
In March, Magic offered a special Linux version of its Magic 8.2 tool (which is a reworked version of Magic 8.2, which first shipped last September, designed for SCO OpenServer) free over the internet. The Linux version of Magic includes application gateways for both Informix and Oracle data bases as well as full documentation and limited tech support available by email.
Magic, which sells AIX, HP-UX and Solaris versions of its eponymous tool as well, started pushing its AS/400 version late last year in the hopes of pulling in more revenues and profits, and thus far, unlike Borland, that strategy has worked for Magic. AS/400 sales account for 20% of revenues and are growing at 140% per year. But that still isn’t enough to make Magic’s shareholders happy, and that is why the company is trying to hitch itself to the Linux star. To that end, Magic is also porting its new eMerchant extranet-in-a-box software, which thus far has only been available on AS/400, Unix and NT servers, to Linux.
The eMerchant suite, which is essentially a collection of Magic templates for extending legacy financial and order entry systems to the web, costs from $40,000 to $60,000. Magic says that it will have the Linux version of eMerchant some time early in the second half of this year – which, by the way, is any week now.
