Compaq, IBM, Novell, and Oracle yesterday disclosed equity investments in Red Hat Software Inc., the largest distributor of the Linux operating system. Financial terms were not disclosed, though all are minority positions.

The investments are noteworthy in that they are the latest vote of support for Linux, the open source operating system that's competing with Windows NT and Unix as a server operating system. A slew of companies announced partnerships and plans to support Linux at last week's LinuxWorld conference in San Jose, Calif., which drew 12,000 attendees.

Paul McNamara, VP of business development for Red Hat, said its customers view directories, database applications, and platform integration for Linux as important if they're going to deploy Linux more broadly. "We chose these partners because they are leaders in these areas," McNamara said. Prior to yesterday's equity investment announcements, Intel and Netscape Communications also invested in Red Hat, as have venture capital firms Greylock and Benchmark Partners.