"Red Hat Will Remain Independent; I’m Not Buying Them To Destroy Them," Says IBM CEO

Ever since IBM announced that it’s going to acquire the open source giant Red Hat, Linux and open source enthusiasts have been voicing their concerns regarding the future of Red Hat? Is it going to become just another IBM subsidiary or is Red Hat going to adopt IBM’s corporate culture?

At the Red Hat Summit in Boston, executives of both companies shared their thoughts and reiterated their commitments to move forward and drive more innovation. When asked if the Linux giant would remain independent, IBM CEO, chairman, and president Ginni Rometty said: “I don’t have a death wish for $34 billion.”

“I’m not buying them to destroy them. It’s a win-win for our clients. It’s a way to drive more innovation,” she added.

These statements further affirm that both companies are working together to ensure that the $34 billion deal, which is scheduled to be completed in the second half of 2019, stays on track. In a related development, the U.S. Department of Justice has also approved the deal.

During the summit, Red Hat CEO and president Jim Whitehurst said (Via: SiliconANGLE) they are all about making open source the default choice in the enterprise (and world). He added that both the companies have recognized that working together is the best way possible to serve their customers.

Talking about the possible culture clash, Whitehurst said that it’s possible to “celebrate the strengths of each other’s cultures.” On the same matter, Rometty said that both the companies agree that their mission is to scale open source — so, preserving each other’s values is important.

In an another development, Red Hat recently announced the release of the latest RHEL 8, its primary Linux offering for the enterprise. RHEL 8 ships with GNOME 3.28 and Wayland. This release is based on Linux kernel 4.18 and Fedora 28, and includes Image Builder utility to let you create custom installation images. You can read further about the release here.