Bradford hi-tech firm GBdirect is the first in the world to release its Linux training materials for free on the Internet.

The company surprised delegates at the recent National Linux Conference where it made the announcement.

The first materials, to be released in about a week, will be the Heaton firm's flagship Linux Systems course which has 18 modules. The Linux system is seen as a major competitor to Bill Gates' Microsoft empire as it can be drawn down from the Internet for nothing.

The firm's decision is in line with the spirit of the Linux system which supports the idea of sharing information on the Internet which allows users to add their own improvements to the material.

The company is part of the Open Source movement which passes on information using the Internet for free.

David Fisher, the firm's marketing director, said: "We are the only commercial training organisation in the world dealing with large businesses who are providing the material, but we don't expect to be the last.

"We will be releasing the training courses them freely on the Internet but we will retain the copyright. People will be able to use them as they see fit.

"We don't think this will affect our profits as we reckon our profits come from the delivery of the courses."

The training courses apply to the Linux system which is a copy of the Unix system which is used by large-scale firms.

Firms in the corporate training sector may be surprised by GBdirect's decision, but Mike Banahan, the firm's managing director, said: "We are not frightened of competition from anybody using our materials because the real value of our training lies in the people who produce the materials and deliver the courses.

"The open source movement produces the best software, because thousands of people continually improve on the work of original authors.

"We want to give something back to the community which gives us this software, but we fully expect people to suggest useful improvements to the materials we are releasing.''

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