The next Linux distribution that IBM throws its weight behind is likely to be <A HREF="http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/09/22/HNibmredflaglinux_1.html">China's Red Flag Linux,</A> suggesting that for businesses elsewhere in the world the Linux market will remain a two-horse race for the time being. Support from vendors like IBM and Oracle makes a big difference for the adoption of a Linux distribution. It gives big businesses the confidence that the software will be around and supported for several years to come. IBM wants to give its customers as much choice with Linux as it can, but the cost of porting and testing applications for more than the two leading distributions--from Red Hat and Novell--makes it impractical to widely support a third option, said Adam Jollans, IBM's worldwide marketing and strategy manager for open source.