In response to the suggestion that Linux threatens to make inroads into cost conscious market spaces, as demonstrated by the recent contract between the NSW Government in Australia and Novell, Hilf is cynical.

“My (rhetorical) question is if you want free software; why not just download it from the internet? Why give a contract to Novell? It just shows the increasing commercialisation of Linux. Novell does nothing for free – they’re a publicly traded company. If you’re going to pay for software, we’ll come to the table too and then we’ll do a real comparison. A lot of people go into things thinking that they’re getting software for free but they’re not in the long term.”{moscomment}