I found this article pretty interesting in BW. Remember all those sad stories about COREL and how Mr. Bill hurt them. It would appear that the Linux crew lit a fire under him and they don't have a very high opinion of SUNW either.
The Wild and Woolly World of Linux
The drive to commercialize Windows' funky rival is pitting capitalists against idealists
For Corel Corp.(CORL), the troubled Ottawa maker of PC software, the fast-emerging Linux software market offers hope of a world where it's not under the thumb of Microsoft Corp. (MSFT). Right now, sales of the word processing and graphics software that Corel sells are stalled because of Microsoft's dominance of PC software programs. So it was supposed to be a big celebration on Sept. 20 when the company published its test version of Linux, a rival to Microsoft's Windows software and a companion to Corel's lineup of Linux applications. Instead, the folks at Corel practically had a panic attack. The fine print on their software license outraged some Linux fans, who spewed anti-Corel venom on a bunch of Web sites. 'Shun the evil Corel!' urged one Linux aficionado.
CLOSE CALL. That's not the reaction Corel Chief Executive Michael Cowpland had counted on last year when he decided to jump on the Linux bandwagon. After hasty consultations, Corel quickly issued a clarification assuring it would not restrict the use of software that thousands of volunteer programmers had contributed to the basic Linux program. The tempest died down. And Corel dodged a disaster. Explains a chastened Cowpland: 'It was all a misunderstanding. We weren't trying to grab the code that wasn't ours.'
Such are the culture clashes you get when rabid capitalists like Cowpland try to cozy up to a bunch of diehard idealists. Linux is an outgrowth of the Open Source community, a loose-knit and sometimes cantankerous clan of tens of thousands of programmers who believe that the basic building blocks of software ought to be shared over the Net freely. With a 16% share of the Web server software distributed last year, Linux is fast becoming the operating system of choice for hot new Net companies and Web sites since it's essentially free and works dependably. Linux' successes offer the prospect of a new kind of software at the center of the computer world--owned collectively and improved constantly by an army of programmers.
But unless the capitalists and purists can avoid collisions, Linux could stall out and go down in history as nothing more than a quirky, short-lived sideshow. How different could two cultures be? On one side are the 'suits,' businesspeople who just want to make a buck off Linux. On the other are the 'true believers,' who could care less about power ties and job titles. At a recent Linux event, for instance, one programmer paraded in a bathrobe and a Cat-in-the-Hat cap. Then there's Richard Stahlman, one of the spiritual leaders of what he calls the Free Software movement. He sometimes dresses in biblical robes and a halo and calls himself 'St. IGNUscious'--a play on the GNU operating system, which got the name Linux after programmer Linus Torvalds took charge. The wild getup is all in fun for Stahlman, but he's dead serious about his goal: to turn the way software is created on its head.
A LEG UP. That's a dizzying proposition for those who want to commercialize Linux. Traditionally, software companies keep the so-called source code--the core of a program--as a leg up on the competition. They don't allow other companies or customers to see or alter it. That's the basis of Microsoft's dominance of the PC industry. Everybody wants to use Windows since it's the de facto standard, but Microsoft won't let others copy it or see how its crucial guts are made. Other tech companies see Linux as a way of cutting Microsoft down to size and capitalizing on the efforts of thousands of volunteers. But they've still got to figure out how to make money from technology that they don't own--without alienating the Linux faithful.
UNWRITTEN RULES. Plenty of people are betting Linux will become mainstream. In August, investors jumped on the initial public offering of Red Hat Inc., a startup that distributes Linux software and sells technical support services, pushing Red Hat's market capitalization to more than $6 billion. Even tech industry icons such as IBM and Intel Corp. are joining the Linux parade. And all the major PC makers are selling computers preloaded with the stuff. International Data Corp. expects the Linux market to grow 25% a year for the next five years.
Anybody who ventures into Linux Country had best be wary, though. The group's penguin mascot may look cute, but this is a fractious culture with byzantine rules--many of them unwritten. Avoiding the wrath of the faithful is tricky. Business people must keep an eye on dozens of Web sites and e-mail interchanges that serve as the Open Source community's virtual town square--wild and woolly places like www.slashdot.org, where adolescents seem to outnumber adults by 2 to 1. That's where they'll find out fast--like Cowpland did--if their latest Linux move is brilliant or a blunder.
Fortunately for the suits, a handful of programmer types have taken it upon themselves to bridge the gap between the worlds of commercialism and communalism. Chief among them is Eric Raymond, president of the Open Source Initiative, which publishes rules and advice for companies. He insists that most Open Sourcers aren't communists or even anticapitalists.
Who's on the clan's enemies list? There's Microsoft, natch. But here's a surprise: The current whipping boy is none other than Sun Microsystems Inc.(SUNW), which bills itself as the antidote to Microsoft and friend to the computing masses. Hisses greeted Sun's plans to release its Solaris operating system source code under a special license that restricts how people can use it. 'They're hunting for some way to keep software nonfree but get users to accept it anyway,' complains Stahlman, head of the Free Software Foundation.
Unlike some other mainstream companies, Sun isn't easily cowed. Bill Joy, the company's chief scientist, says Sun ought to be able to let people have a look at the core technology in its operating system but still control what they do with it--and collect fees if others make commercial use of it. 'We believe that the stuff is worth something,' he says. 'Some people in Open Source don't believe in private property.'
So far, most companies are walking the straight and narrow. IBM consulted with community watchdogs before settling on a license that preserves its intellectual property rights on some technology but releases other IBM software into the public domain. 'IBM was a pussycat,' says Open Sourcer Bruce J. Perens, who did some of the liaison work.
The key is walking a two-way street. This is a principle best understood by executives at the startup Linux companies--people who themselves emerged out of the Open Source milieu. Nobody gets it better than Robert Young, CEO of Red Hat, which releases every bit of software it creates to the public. 'The more you give, the more you get,' says Young. 'It's a virtuous circle.' It certainly has been virtuous for about 1,200 Linux programmers who got to buy Red Hat stock at the IPO price of $14. It is now trading at around $90 a share.
'PARASITE.' Linux companies figure they get back at least as much as they give away. VA Linux Systems depends on more than 100 volunteers to man its Linux community Web site, called linux.com. Sensitive to any concerns about exploitation, VA Linux doesn't advertise or sell its products off the site. One volunteer, Peter Clark, a 25-year-old Motorola Inc. programmer in Phoenix, says he's happy to answer questions. 'It gives me a chance to get my name in lights and actually do something worthwhile,' he says.
It's not all sweetness and light in the Open Source community, however. Last year, after Tim O'Reilly, CEO of book publisher O'Reilly & Associates, got an award for his contributions to Open Source, one group member called him a 'parasite' because he makes money from selling Linux-related books.
So far, the internecine squabbles haven't begun to torpedo relationships between the programmers and the companies that want to be their pals. If that keeps up, Linux could truly turn out to be the revenge of the nerds.
By Steve Hamm in New York |
