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NewsYouCanUse From: THE WEEK HTTP://WWW.THE-WEEK.COM January 17, 1999 Page 56,57,58 ****************************************************************** COMPUTERS: UNSHACKLING SOFTWARE ****************************************************************** Linux is a rugged operating system, as good as any, and its source code comes free. THE CRAZY thing about the Internet is that it has kooks crawling all over its Web. The good thing about it is that most of them are large-hearted. Have a problem? Post it on the Net and see how they fall all over themselves trying to help you. And they won't even wait for as much as a thank you. (Yes, some may stay around flooding you with images of flowers and lips -- nothing like the real stuff but as touching.) Linux, an operating system that a Finn calleld Linus Torvalds thought up in the early nineties, was apparently developed that way: with free help from thousands of bleeding hearts across the Net. Linux (pronounced Lih-Nucks) has all the features you would expect of the operating system Unix. But what makes it exciting is the fact that it remains free. At least that bit of what matters -- the set of instructions which operates the software. It is known as the source code. To computer programmers, the source code is really useful. It helps them customise the software. Torvalds holds the copyright to Linux's kernel (if you don't understand this bit of computer jargon, try plain English -- it works as well in this case) but has placed it under the general public licence, which means that programmers, developers and users may freely copy (from the Internet), change, and distribute it, but they may not impose any restrictions on its further distribution. That is, they must make the source code available to the next person in line. Large hearths are what the Internet community is all about. So where does open source software, as software such as Linux has come to be known, leave proprietary softwar-wallas like Mocrosoft? Wide awake and suffering from angina pectoris, it would seem. They are threatened because the rules of the game in the software world could take a beating. Buying software from them has often meant that the customer is not king. Even after you buy software you don't own it at all (no code). It's like buying a car and not having ownership rights over the engine. Moreover, users may not want all of what comes with their packages. This means that there could be stuff that is occupying your machine's memory space and doing you no good. With Linux, the advantage is that you can put in only that what you need. Giving Linux a try requires a machine with at least 2 Mb of RAM (random access memory) and a single floppy drive. That effectively means that you could use the computer you have been planning to throw away or upgrade befcause it doesn't have memory enough to match the new machines in the market. In other words Linux delays obsolence in hardware. The system is proving to be subversive in more ways than one. The Mexican government plans to install Linux in 140,000 school computer labs across the country. Over the next five years, its Scholar Net program will furnish students with access to the Web and email, as well as word processors and spreadsheets. It would have taken about Rs 496 crore to install Windows98, Microsoft Office and a server running Windows NT in every school Instead, Mexico turned to Red Hat Software, which distributes Linux at a cost of Rs 2000 for a pair of installation CDs and a manual. Red Hat's version of Linux can be copied as many times as necessary at no extra charge. It is also available as a free download off the Net. And the Mexicans can use their old computers. Perhaps the Indian government should also think on these lines. There may be problems -- for beginners. Linux proves as difficult as learning to swim. So to switch over may be scary. But about seven million computer users have taken the plunge worldwide and they are happily afloat. --PRAMOD KUMAR SINGH ****************************************************************** LINUX INDIA ****************************************************************** In India, there is a Linux user's group which can be contacted at http://www.linux-india.org. Its members consist of computer professionals, students, entrepreneurs, editors and computer users and just about anybody who is interested in Linux. It has been around since August 1998 and maintains a mailing list of 200 members. These people are offering to share (or provide hints where to find) loads of software that can help you to do your work effectively without having to opt for the pay-or-pirate policy which software users in India are otherwise forced to adopt. They are even willing to pass around CDs of software, which have been copied. Since the software is open source it involves no piracy. Linux backers plan to set up groups of ILUGs (India Linux-User Groups) in various cities to help people solve their Linux problems. ****************************************************************** PENGUIN TALE ****************************************************************** Linus Torvalds, the developer of Linus, was a student when he hacked the operating system together. He apparently decided on the small, well-fed and satisfied penguin, called Tux, as the logo for Linux after having his finger nibbled 'contentedly' by a penguin. Contributors to Linux the world over see themselves as just that -- smug in the knowledge that it is a quick and efficient system. ****************************************************************** NO MORE A MICROWORLD ****************************************************************** Reportedly, open source software in general and Linux in particular so hassled software giant Microsoft that it prepared a memorandum on the threat posed by the new operating system. The memo was allegedly authored by Vinod Valloppillil, an Indian. Unfortunately for the richest man in the world (Linux enthusiasts say "fortunately for the rest of the poor world") the memo leaked out. And such juicy bits of gossip cannot but get posted on the Internet. The memo admitted that "free" software was driven by the motivation of its developers, that it had achieved a degree of complexity, credibility and quality comparable to commercial software and that open source software now posed a 'direct, short-term revenue and platform threat to Microsoft'. Since the leak was posted over Halloween weekend, it became famous as The Halloween Document. For more on the subject check out http://www.opensource/halloween.html ****************************************************************** GOOGLE! FRISKY SEARCH ****************************************************************** Check out http://www.google.com, a Linux-based search engine. It is supposed to be quite "intelligent". And it is only at the Alpha testing stage (the first stage) as yet. # *********************************************************** # frederick noronha, freelance journalist, [EMAIL PROTECTED] # near lourdes convent, saligao 403511 goa india ph 276190 or 278683 # *********************************************************** # News from Goa http://www.goacom.com/news/ # Photos from Goa http://www.goa-world.net/fotofolio/ # GoaResearchNet http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/1503 # ***********************************************************
