Open source stack wars

Both Red Hat and Novell introduced open source application servers that integrate well with their respective Linux distributions. The companies say that customers are asking for a more integrated software stack--and that's what IBM, Sun, Microsoft, SAP, BEA and others are offering as a way to capture more business. The question customers should be asking is if an open source, pre-integrated software stack paves the way to a lock-in situation, which is an anathema to the open source community.

My guess is that Red Hat or Novell's software stack is one part convenience (fewer vendors or integration and service