At the last-ever reseller conference of Accpac International-which was about to disappear into Sage-an IBM executive handed out checks to resellers who had sold installations of Accpac on Linux that utilized IBM's DB2 database. Nobody has handed out checks for Accpac Linux installations since IBM's Scott Handy did it at the reseller get-together in Quebec City in August 2003, and Accpac has been quiet about Linux.

But there are some fans, including David Beck, president of SystemLink North America, an Accpac reseller that also has a European arm.

"I'd like to continue to support the Linux platform," says Beck. "Clients like choices. Some of our clients want Linux. There is a small group of anti-Microsoft bigots that when they come looking, there is not a lot in the application space."

Beck says most Linux installations involve running IBM DB2 database on a Linux server while running the accounting application on a Microsoft system. "But in the users' minds, they have Linux," he notes.

Linux has been more successful with SystemLink's international operations. "Overseas, we have some installs that are using the full Linux system, front and back," he says.

Pleasanton, Calif.-based Sage Accpac, which supports both Windows and Linux, estimates this year that as much as 20 percent of its installations were on Linux, up from 12 percent a year earlier. And Craig Downing, vice president and general manager of Sage Accpac, predicts open-source adoption rates will accelerate as technologically savvy workers begin occupying the executive suites at large corporations.

"When we look five to ten years down the road," says Downing, "as more of those who grew up on the Web move up into the C-ranks [CEO, CFO and CIO] they will be more comfortable trying other platforms."

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