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Posted at 1:47 PM PT, May 18, 1999
VA Linux Systems formally launched its Linux.com Web site Tuesday, which it hopes to turn into a community portal supplying news, software products, and technical data of interest to Linux users and developers.

Typical of the community's democratic spirit the site will be "by the people," according to a notice on the site. The site will be run by volunteers from all sectors of the Linux community, according to a release.

The site, which went live officially Tuesday, has been receiving as many as 100,000 hits per day recently even though it was still under construction, VA officials claimed.

VA Linux won the rights to the domain name this past March from a Linux programmer in the Netherlands who owned the rights for several years. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company, a manufacturer of systems that run Linux, beat out several competitors for rights to the name including Compaq.

Board members of the new site include Rob Malda, Slashdot publisher; Nick Petreley, editorial director of Linuxworld; Patrick Lenz, Freshmeat founder; Phil Hughes, Linux Journal publisher; Doug Kennedy, a vice president at Oracle; and Kurt Akeley, a vice president at Silicon Graphics.

VA Linux Systems, in Mountain View, Calif., is at www.varesearch.com.

Ed Scannell is an InfoWorld editor at large.