> > Even MSNBC says Linux is the future, mabe we'll get lucky and they
> > will give Linux some app support?
> Really? Where? Do you have some pointers?
Sorry, that was awfully mean of me to say that and not post an address.
I sat down and looked for it again and found it.
The article is at http://www.msnbc.com/news/139296.asp
included below is the article
Gerhard
-- Gerhard Mack gmack@imag.net innerfire@starchat.netAs a computer I find your faith in technology amusing. And evidence that Netscape’s freeware play could turn around the browser wars Image: Titanic In the movie Titanic, the water that swallows the ship was simulated on powerful personal computers running the Linux operating system. [INLINE] By Barton Crockett MSNBC Jan. 27 — In the movie “Titanic,” a ship that had been thought unsinkable plunges to a watery grave. It’s ironic, then, that the sinking may also showcase a way for Netscape to capsize Microsoft. That’s because the water that swallows the ship was simulated on computers running an operating system that was developed and distributed free-of-charge on the Internet. And that software’s success is perhaps the best evidence that Netscape might succeed with a similar freeware plan. “WE CAN IGNITE THE ENTIRE net community to rally around our platform,” says Netscape Communications Corp. executive vice president Mike Homer. In that plan, announced last week, Netscape said that it plans to turn its Navigator browser and Communicator suite of surfing software into freeware. That means that Netscape is giving away the software immediately, and plans to release at no charge the source code for the latest version of Communicator by the end of March. That marks a big change from the standard practice at Netscape, Microsoft and other commercial software companies of keeping their source code — the basic building blocks of software — a closely held secret. But Netscape’s plan did not come out of the blue. Instead, it mirrors what has been the standard development process for an operating system called Linux for more than six years. And Linux’s success, highlighted by its use for special effects in “Titanic,” shows that Netscape’s move may hold promise. (Microsoft is a partner with NBC in MSNBC.) “The momentum behind this phenomenon is quite remarkable,” says Robert Young, co-founder and CEO of Red Hat Software Inc., a Research Triangle Park, N.C., -based company that supplied the version of Linux used in the movie. FREEWARE ROOTS It’s an idea that goes back to the origins of the global network. By freely collaborating and swapping source code, programmers at AT&T and leading universities designed the original software for the Internet. This collegial development was later pushed underground when computer and software vendors started charging for their versions of Unix, the operating system on most original Internet computers. But some programmers refused to participate in this commercialization, and the free source code movement thrived. For instance, according to research by Netcraft Ltd., of Bath, England, the most widely used Web server software is Apache, developed free by programmers collaborating online. Other popular software that started as freeware includes Pretty Good Privacy encryption software and the Eudora e-mail package. But unlike these products, Linux has risen to prominence in Microsoft’s core market — operating systems for Intel-based machines. Nobody would have guessed the product’s success when it was created in 1991. Indeed, the software was designed by a 21-year-old undergraduate student at the University of Helsinki named Linus Torvalds. He created the original Linux kernel — the nucleus of the operating software — for his Intel-based personal computer to save money and avoid having to use university computers. Torvalds posted the code to the Internet, and said anyone could download and work on it, as long as they made the source code for their innovations available to others. Free-ware victory Apache, distributed free, is the Internets most popular Web server software package. 1. Apache 45% 2. Microsoft IIS 20% 3. Netscape Enterprise 5% 4. NCSA 4% Other 26% SOURCE: January 1998 survey by Netcraft Ltd. That alternative to Microsoft’s DOS and Windows operating systems gathered a devoted following among thousands of programmers, who worked up their own enhancements, shared it with friends and collaborated online. Now there’s an entire industry built around Linux, with trade shows, books and software tools dedicated to the operating system. No definitive data is available, since there aren’t any restrictions on copying the software. But Phil Hughes, publisher of Linux Journal, says the most common estimate is that about 5 million computers are now running a version of Linux, many of them acting as Web servers running Apache server software. International Data Corp. estimates that more than 2 million copies of Linux were installed in 1997. That puts Linux in nearly the same league as Apple Computer, IW 139296.txt Row 136 Col 1 2:52 Ctrl-K H for help 1997. That puts Linux in nearly the same league as Apple Computer, which shipped 3.8 million machines running the Macintosh operating system. Hughes added that Red Hat software appears to have become the biggest Linux supplier, followed by Provo, Utah-based Caldera Inc.
LINUX ARBITERS Red Hat and other vendors have come to lead the free Linux market by acting as central arbiters for stable versions of the operating system. They collect suggested improvements from programmers, test them, add their own enhancements, and offer the software for free on the Internet. But Red Hat also sells the software and source code on a CD-ROM Young, a 44-year-old former computer leasing salesman, says that Red Hat’s sales grew from 30,000 units in 1995 to 232,000 in 1997. Working with MacMillan Publishing Co., Red Hat now sells its version of Linux in most major software stores, and also in the bookstore chains Borders and Barnes & Noble. Young says he’d be disappointed if the company didn’t sell more than 400,000 copies in 1998, and take in revenues of more than $10 million. The privately-held, 36-employee company has been profitable since inception, he adds. To be sure, Linux shipments are but ice-cubes in the Atlantic compared to the total of more than 95 million copies of Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT that Microsoft is expected to ship in 1998, according to Dataquest projections. But Red Hat Linux has won top-flight reviews. Indeed, Infoworld magazine rated Red Hat Linux and Windows NT as its “operating systems of the year” in 1996. A November review of a more recent version (“Tired of NT? Put on Your Red Hat.”) was also favorable. And big organizations are using the software. Among the most visible is special-effects shop Digital Domain, which used Linux on 100 powerful personal computers to design many of the special effects for the movie Titanic, including the water that swallows the vessel. “It worked remarkably well, we were really very happy with the results,” says software manager Daryll Strauss. Other users include the National Aeronatics Space Administration, Fermi Laboratories and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California.
NETSCAPE’S ONLY HOPE Which doesn’t necessarily mean that freeware will work for Netscape. Indeed, Microsoft officials warned that Netscape will find it hard to debug code prepared by people over the Internet and that big companies will be reluctant to install the software. But Young maintained that freeware can be just as reliable as Microsoft code, and can win big fans, since surfers and companies tend to follow the lead of the most sophisticated users. Besides, freeware may be Netscape’s only hope. “The only way they can actually beat Microsoft and retain decent [market] share is to change the rules on which the game is played,” Young says.
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