There is no lack of Linux-based, open source applications so the idea of a marketplace for these applications seemed like a winner for Red Hat three years ago.
But as LinuxPlanet reports, Red Hat’s initiative has had rocky ride, leading the Linux vendor to develop an alternative.
An open source app store from a Linux vendor is a good idea, right?
As it turns out, Linux vendors selling their open source partners solutions directly isn’t always a recipe for success. Just ask Red Hat, or its rival Novell.
In 2007, Red Hat launched an effort called the Red Hat Exchange (RHX), a marketplace for selling open source solutions from Red Hat’s partners. RHX was in part Red Hat’s response to competitive pressure from the Novell Market Start program.
Now in 2010, neither of those sales programs is still operational.
“When we came out with RHX we were hoping for more ambitious adoption but we’ve learned that selling third-party applications via a marketplace is challenging,” Mike Evans, Red Hat’s vice president of corporate development, told InternetNews.com.”When you’ve got marketplaces that offer buyers the choice of buying in the marketplace or directly from the vendor themselves, which is what our marketplace was, there isn’t a real efficient marketplace.”