Oracle contemplates Linux distro

Larry Ellison argues that it would sense to distribute and support Linux

Oracle is considering developing its own Linux distribution in an effort to create a complete software stack, the company's chief executive Larry Ellison said in an interview with the Financial Times.

"I would like to have a complete stack," he said. "We are missing an operating system. You could argue that it makes a lot of sense for us to look at distributing and supporting Linux."

An Oracle Linux distribution would allow the company to integrate and test its database, middleware and enterprise applications. Ellison likened such a strategy to Microsoft's efforts to provide software for most mainstream applications.

Oracle has been building out its software stack in recent years, creating a portfolio of products that spans middleware such as an application service, databases and enterprise software including customer relationship management and enterprise resource planning.

The company has considered acquiring middleware providers including BEA and Jboss. Jboss was acquired last week by Red Hat.

Ellison said that Oracle had also looked into acquiring Novell, maker of the SuSE Linux distribution.

However, Ellison argued that such acquisitions pose too much of a risk because open source vendors do not own the intellectual property on their products.

An Oracle spokesman confirmed Ellison's remarks in the interview, but declined any further comment on the company's plans to create its own Linux distribution.