IBM is poised to gain a 'stranglehold' over the Linux community, Gartner warned today.

Speaking exclusively to vnunet.com, George Weiss, research director for server and operating systems at Gartner, said: "The biggest problem IBM has is it that appears to the Linux community that it is trying to take over the Linux momentum and grab what this OS has to offer."

"IBM is steaming ahead with strong new revenue opportunities. It could appear that one vendor is seizing major opportunities and riding roughshod over the community," he added.

Weiss said he could see a day when "80 per cent of the revenues, indirect or direct, attributed to Linux will go into IBM coffers unless companies like HP, Red Hat and VA Linux smarten up their act. IBM will have a stranglehold on the community".

IBM told Weiss about its plans for the open source operating system in a meeting this week. "They are aware of the problem. They said they were trying to contribute back to the community and mentioned making the source code for Sash [development software for desktops] for Linux available. IBM people are gracious but they have a business to run. It's a delicate balance."

According to Weiss, there are benefits and drawbacks for users: "IBM will announce that for major distributions of Linux, it's the first line of support for users. IBM will take responsibility for the operating system's integrity no matter who they need as a partner. Users worried about reliability want one vendor they can count on."

On the negative side, Weiss said: "Some of the idealism of the community could be tarnished, and the layers built around Linux could become so proprietary, that it will be like another version of Unix."

An IBM spokesman said: "In terms of what IBM is doing with Linux, it has had nothing but a good reaction from the Linux community. We have been collaborating with other vendors such as HP and Sun on projects like the open source development laboratory which will be opening soon."

IBM is keen to move into the retail sector, according to Weiss: "It's their next big sector. A large number of stores run similar kinds of applications at point of sale, so if IBM uses a free operating system environment and runs applications on inexpensive Intel-based systems, it's a viable strategy."

UK supermarket Tesco announced plans last October to replace its DOS-based tills with checkouts running Linux at 800 outlets in Europe, including the UK, Ireland and France.