Oracle is considering launching a version of the Linux operating system and has looked at buying one of the two firms dominating the technology, a newspaper reported on Monday.

The report, citing an interview with Oracle’s CEO Larry Ellison, said the move will redraw the software landscape and open a new front in Oracle’s long rivalry with US rival Microsoft. It said Mr Ellison told the newspaper that Oracle wanted to sell a full range of software that, like Microsoft, included operating system and applications. “I’d like to have a complete stack,” Mr Ellison was quoted as saying.

“We’re missing an operating system. You could argue that it makes a lot of sense for us to look at distributing and supporting Linux.” The report said that like IBM, Oracle has counted on Linux — an open source system, whose code is open to anyone to view and adapt — to act as a counterweight to Microsoft’s Windows, which has expanded rapidly from desktop PCs into corporate IT systems.

As part of a recent study of the open-source software market, Mr Ellison told the newspaper that Oracle had considered buying Novell, which after Red Hat is the biggest distributor of Linux.