I wonder how long it will take the Canadian government to catch on to this "trend"? And don't you just love it when MS tries to play the underdog? What a bunch of shit.
Jesse Quoting Barclay Hambrook ApecTec <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Exciting times for Linux! This is quite an important/interesting article. > Barclay Hambrook > > > >> > >>September 5, 2002 New York Times > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >>An Alternative to Microsoft Gains Support in High Places > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >>By STEVE LOHR > >> > >>27fae5.jpgovernments around the world, afraid that > >><http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/05/technology/05CODE.html?todaysheadlines=&pagewanted=print&position=top/redirect/marketwatch/redirect.ctx?MW=http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/nyt-com/html-companyprofile.asp&symb=MSFT>Microsoft > > >>has become too powerful in critical software markets, have begun working > >>to ensure an alternative. > >> > >>More than two dozen countries in Asia, Europe and Latin America, > >>including China and Germany, are now encouraging their government > >>agencies to use "open source" software � developed by communities of > >>programmers who distribute the code without charge and donate their labor > > >>to cooperatively debug, modify and otherwise improve the software. > >> > >>The best known of these projects is Linux, a computer operating system > >>that Microsoft now regards as the leading competitive threat to its > >>lucrative Windows franchise in the market for software that runs computer > > >>servers. The foremost corporate champion of Linux is > >><http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/05/technology/05CODE.html?todaysheadlines=&pagewanted=print&position=top/redirect/marketwatch/redirect.ctx?MW=http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/nyt-com/html-companyprofile.asp&symb=IBM>I.B.M., > > >>which is working with many governments on Linux projects. > >> > >>Against this opposition, Microsoft has found itself in the uncommon > >>position of campaigning for the even-handed competition of "a level > >>playing field." And I.B.M., once the feared monopolist of the era of > >>mainframe computers, is casting itself as a force of liberation from > >>Microsoft, the monopolist of today. > >> > >>Microsoft worries that some governments may all but require the use of > >>Linux for their powerful servers, which provide data to large networks of > > >>computer users. For the most part, the battle does not involve the kind > >>of software that runs on the typical computer user's desk. > >> > >>To curb such moves, Microsoft is backing an industry group called the > >>Initiative for Software Choice. The group lists 20 members � besides the > >>chip maker > >><http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/05/technology/05CODE.html?todaysheadlines=&pagewanted=print&position=top/redirect/marketwatch/redirect.ctx?MW=http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/nyt-com/html-companyprofile.asp&symb=INTC>Intel, > > >>a close ally, most of them small foreign companies or organizations. > >>(Illegally stifling choice, of course, was precisely what the federal > >>courts in the long-running antitrust case ruled that Microsoft did in the > > >>market for personal computer software.) > >> > >>The motivations and actions by foreign governments vary somewhat, but > >>mostly they seem to be trying to ensure competition. That was the stance > >>taken by a delegation of Chinese officials involved in developing their > >>software industry, who visited the United States last month. > >> > >>In an interview, Jiang Guangzhi, director of a software development > >>center in Shanghai, discussed the progress made in China on various Linux > > >>projects and emphasized that the government did not want one company "to > >>manipulate or dominate the Chinese market." With its entry into the World > > >>Trade Organization, China is facing increased pressure to crack down on > >>software piracy, adding to the appeal of free software like Linux, Mr. > >>Jiang said. > >> > >>His delegation had attended the LinuxWorld conference in San Francisco, > >>and met with I.B.M. executives and its Linux experts at the company's > >>headquarters in Armonk, N.Y. > >> > >>Yet Mr. Jiang also spoke glowingly of Microsoft's involvement in China. > >>The company set up a research laboratory in Beijing and recently made a > >>commitment to invest $700 million in China over the next three years in > >>education, training and research, and in investments in local companies. > >> > >>"We appreciate Microsoft's contributions," Mr. Jiang said. > >> > >>To Chinese Communist officials, it seems, Linux is a useful tool of > >>pragmatic capitalism to pump-prime market competition to China's > advantage. > >> > >>The support of open source software by governments around the world is > >>rising. There are currently 66 government proposals, statements and > >>studies promoting open source software in 25 countries, according to the > >>Initiative for Software Choice. The policy statements and legislative > >>proposals mainly encourage the use of open source software in government > >>procurement, and nearly all of them have cropped up in the last 18 > months. > >> > >>"It's growing, unfortunately, from our perspective," said Mike Wendy, a > >>spokesman for the software initiative, which was founded in May. > >> > >>The impetus for the international activity was in Europe. A technology > >>advisory group to the European Commission issued a report two years ago > >>that termed open source software "a great opportunity" for the region > >>that could perhaps "change the rules in the information technology > >>industry," wresting the lead in software from the United States and > >>reducing Europe's reliance on imports. > >> > >>As open source software, especially Linux, has spread, countries in other > > >>regions have also come to regard it as both a model of software > >>development and perhaps an engine of economic growth. The government > >>proposals and projects are efforts to position their nations to exploit a > > >>promising trend in technology. > >> > >>Source code is software rendered in a programming language that human > >>programmers can read and understand, before it is compiled down to the > >>digital 1's and 0's that the machine processes. Software companies, like > >>Microsoft, typically guard their source code as a trade secret, and > >>certainly do not allow outsiders to modify or redistribute it. > >> > >>In the open source model, the source code is freely published for all to > >>see. Then, interested programmers � often all over the world, > >>communicating over the Internet � work on a project to fix, modify and > >>add improvements. These self-selected communities work out their own > >>governing arrangements to determine when changes in the code are approved > > >>or rejected. > >> > >>The leading open source projects are > >><http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/05/technology/05CODE.html?todaysheadlines=&pagewanted=print&position=top/redirect/marketwatch/redirect.ctx?MW=http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/nyt-com/html-companyprofile.asp&symb=APA>Apache, > > >>the software most used for distributing Web pages to desktop computers, > >>and the Linux operating system. The kernel, or basic engine, of Linux was > > >>initially developed by Linus Torvalds, a Finnish programmer who now works > > >>in the United States � though the operating system itself is a result of > >>work from many contributors, including Richard M. Stallman, who leads a > >>free software project called GNU. > >> > >>Just how far the open source model can go is uncertain. The projects rely > > >>on voluntary contributions from programmers who work at universities, > >>government laboratories and companies. Money is made in the open source > >>environment by supplying technical support, services and writing > >>applications that run on top of the open source software. > >> > >>Linux has certainly gone a long way already. Though there are versions of > > >>Linux that run on desktop PC's, the real success of Linux has been as an > >>operating system on larger data-serving machines, which power computer > >>networks in corporations and governments and the Internet. > >> > >>The big market for computer server software is also crucial to > >>Microsoft's future. Although the company controls a huge portion of the > >>personal computer operating systems market, to keep growing it must push > >>increasingly into the lucrative market for software that runs corporate > >>and government data centers. It is there that Microsoft encounters what > >>its senior executives have cited as the two most significant competitive > >>threats: I.B.M. and free software, notably Linux. > >> > >>That combination, in Microsoft's view, could be particularly powerful, > >>especially if open source software emerges as the most politically > >>acceptable technological path. > >> > >>In Germany, for example, the lower house of Parliament adopted a > >>resolution last November declaring that the government should use open > >>source software "whenever doing so will reduce costs." The resolution > >>also cited as advantages "stability" and "security." Microsoft's Windows > >>operating system is often criticized for crashing too often and for being > > >>susceptible to computer viruses and security breaches. > >> > >>Then in June, the German government and I.B.M. announced a "far-reaching > >>cooperation agreement" to use open source software in national and > >>municipal government agencies. "The fact that Linux provides a true > >>alternative to the Windows operating system," said Otto Schily, the > >>German interior minister, "increases our independence and improves our > >>position as a big customer for software." > >> > >>The German case, I.B.M. says, is part of an emerging pattern. "There's > >>not a large government in the world we're not talking to," said Steven > >>Solazzo, general manager of I.B.M.'s Linux business. > >> > >>The Initiative for Software Choice, the Microsoft-supported group, said > >>it has nothing against open source software as such, but that a declared > >>policy favoring one development model is a bias � a competition based on > >>prejudice instead of the merits of the products. > >> > >>"All we're looking for is a level playing field competitively," said > >>Peter Houston, a senior strategy executive in Microsoft's Windows group. > >> > >>As open source software moves out of its incubator of a comparatively > >>small community of devoted software developers and into the commercial > >>mainstream, customers � in governments and corporations � will > >>increasingly see its limitations, Mr. Houston said. Windows, he said, has > > >>a wide range of tools and technical abilities that Linux does not have in > > >>a "comprehensive, integrated, easy-to-use" package. > >> > >>By contrast, Mr. Houston said, I.B.M. is mainly trying to convert its > >>weakness in the operating-system market to its advantage by making money > >>supplying the software � the ingredients that an operating system like > >>Linux lacks � and collecting services revenue for putting it all > together. > >> > >>"I.B.M. is just trying to move the value up the chain from the operating > >>system," Mr. Houston said. > >> > >>In the end, market competition should determine whether Microsoft or > >>Linux gains the upper hand. > > > >ApecTec Inc. > >www.apectec.com > >email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Phone: (403) 685 1888 > >Fax: (403) 685 1880
