>Linux Plays a Role in 'Titanic,' Photos By NASA, but Can It Take On >Microsoft? > >By SEAN DAVIS >Dow Jones Newswires > >[From The Wall Street Journal, April 3, 1998, page B7B] > >NEW YORK-The makers of "Titanic" used it to render the hit film's >special effects. NASA uses it to stitch together pictures of Earth. It >is free to anyone who wants it, but at least two companies are selling >it. > >The question: What is Linux? > >Linux is an operating system, like Microsoft Corp.'s Windows. But >unlike Windows, no one owns Linux, and its source code - the >instructions its developers use to create it-is freely available. > >Proponents of Linux say because of this, the software stands a good >chance of taking business away from Windows NT, the enterprise version >of Microsoft's market-leading operating system for workstations. One >commercial vendor of Linux, closely held Red Hat Software Inc., >expects to sell 400,000 copies of the software at $50 each this year. > >The operating system generally referred to as Linux got its start in >1983. Richard Stallman, then a programmer at the >artificial-intelligence lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, >set out to create a free alternative to Unix, the operating system >developed at AT&T Corp.'s Bell Labs. > >Mr. Stallman dubbed his operating system GNU, which stands for Gnu's >Not Unix. (The recursive acronym is a time-honored tradition in >software development, says Mr. Stallman, calling it "hacker humor.") >With Mr. Stallman and others building GNU piece by piece, it lacked >one vital piece by 1991: the kernel, which makes the operating system >run. > >That is when Linux's namesake came along. Linus Torvalds, then a >student at the University of Helsinki, wrote the kernel, named it >after himself and made it publicly available under the GNU general >public license. (Mr. Torvalds now works for software company >Transmeta, a Santa Clara, Calif., start-up whose investors include >Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.) > >The GNU general public license s another Stallman brainchild. Written >in 1985 and revised twice, most recently in 1991, it permits anyone to >use Linux, or GNU/Linux, as the operating system also is known. >Licensees must agree to provide the source code to subsequent users, >even when they sell the software, as they are permitted to do. And >users also must agree to make any additions and improvements to the >operating system available to the public in the form of source code. > >This means that a community of hackers and software developers, >linked by the Internet, is constantly adding to and improving Linux. >The operating system as it exists today is a loosely defined accretion >of repairs and new features. The general public license made that >possible. > >But free software doesn't mean free of charge, and that is where >closely held companies like Red Hat and its rival, Caldera Inc., come >in. > >Red Hat, of Research Triangle Park, N.C., takes the latest version of >Linux off the Internet and packages it for sale in CD-ROM format. > >Red Hat's president and co-founder, Robert Young, says the company's >customers are paying for three things: the convenience of a CD, >technical support and a reliable version of the operating system. He >says Red Hat, named for co-founder Marc Ewing's Cornell University >lacrosse cap, has shipped about 600,000 CDs since its inception in >January 1995. > >Caldera, of Orem, Utah, has a slightly different business model. It >adds proprietary elements to Linux, including a user-friendly desktop, >and sells the package on CD-ROM. Caldera doesn't publish the source >code for the proprietary elements, some of which it licenses from >other vendors. > >Standing behind Caldera is Ray Noorda, who retired as chairman of >Novell Inc. in 1994. Canopy Group, a venture capital firm Mr. Noorda >founded in 1995, is Caldera's sole investor, and Caldera was started >by former Novell employees who worked under Mr. Noorda. > >Indeed, Mr. Noorda's embrace of Linux is an extension of his >well-documented challenge to Microsoft. Earlier this decade, while >under Mr. Noorda's leadership, Novell went on a costly acquisition >spree to compete with the Redmond, Wash., software giant, a strategy >it has since abandoned. > >Whether Linux can challenge Windows is an open question. The >operating system has an estimated five million to 10.5 million users, >according to Red Hat. By contrast, Microsoft will ship an estimated 95 >million copies of Windows in 1998. > >But Linux has had some notable successes. For example, the >special-effects shop Digital Domain Inc. used powerful computers >running Red Hat's version of Linux to render many of the stunning >images from "Titanic," including the icy waters that swallowed the >ship. > >Another user is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. >When NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland built a >supercomputer out of off-the-shelf PC components, it chose Linux to >run the number-crunching machine, partly because of the operating >system's culture. > >"There really is a culture in the Linux community of contributing >components," said Donald Becker, a staff scientist at Goddard. >"Working with a culture like that makes everyone's job easier." > >Collective development and troubleshooting make Linux both a nimble >and uncommonly stable operating system, proponents say. The drawback, >Mr. Becker said, is that Linux is always changing, requiring users to >update frequently. > >"But the alternative, is a stagnant system," he said, "so it's a >necessary evil." > >The free software model, for a long time anathema to most commercial >software makers, is gaining currency. Netscape Communications Corp. >recently said it will start giving away its Navigator Web browser, as >well as the source code that makes it run. And Apache, the free Web >server software developed by far-flung hackers, is estimated to run >about 45% of the Web pages world-wide, more than any other server >software product. > >[From The Wall Street Journal, April 3, 1998, page B7B] > >-=+=- > >The Good, Clean Funnies List: Good, clean funnies five times a >week, for free! > >To subscribe or unsubscribe send email with "add" or "remove" in the >subject line (without the quotes) to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]". Send >submissions and comments to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]". 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