Edition 1.4, 29th January 1999 Open the Window ?
The news that Microsoft turned in massive profits in the latest quarter (http://www.wired.com/news/news/email/explode-infobeat/business/story/17421.html) hasn't seemed to stem the rising tide of discontent with MS and it's products in the industry.
Whilst there is no readily available alternative for the average desktop user, momentum seems to be gaining for Linux as a server operating system. Traditionally the domain of proprietary brands of Unix such as Sun's Solaris and SCO UnixWare, and targeted by Windows NT, these typically are used as platforms for database servers.
Many application developers have woken up to the possibility of using Linux, and the ‘net is awash with a strong ground swell in Linux's favour, such as "How to Persuade Your Boss to Take the Linux Plunge" at http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_3011.html . This story also carries many links to useful Linux resources.
Off course, the fundamental differences between Linux and Windows NT is that Linux is Open Source, of course as well as being free. For those who don't know what ‘Open Source' means, it refers to the fact that the programming source instructions are available.
All programs are written in human-decipherable instructions, which are then generally compiled into instructions that the microprocessor understands, which are distributed as ‘Executable" files that end in the familiar .exe or .com.
The owner, or user, can not fix problems, or improve how the program works, because they do not have the source code to modify.
With Linux, the source code is generally supplied with the executables, by distributors such as Red Hat. Whilst tweaking the code is beyond the scope of the average user, it does mean that problems can be fixed and improvements can be easily implemented, and fed back to the user community. This results in a rapid pace of evolution of the software functionality and reliability, at the same time creating a culture of give and take amongst the developer community.
To quote Eric Raymond from the official Open Source site (http://www.opensource.org/) :
"The basic idea behind open source is very simple. When programmers on the Internet can read, redistribute, and modify the source for a piece of software, it evolves. People improve it, people adapt it, people fix bugs. And this can happen at a speed that, if one is used to the slow pace of conventional software development, seems astonishing.
We in the open source community have learned that this rapid evolutionary process produces better software than the traditional closed model, in which only a very few programmers can see source and everybody else must blindly use an opaque block of bits."
The Internet developed upon such open source as well as community-developed standards. See an interesting article: "Open source – the way the Net was won" at
http://www.sunworld.com/swol-12-1998/swol-12-webmaster.html This also contains may useful links for open source developers.In the meantime, this concept is picking up amongst commercial software developers, who traditionally have been adamantly opposed to publishing their source. An example of this is Netscape, who recently took a radical step and published the source code of their latest version of the Netscape Communicator Version 4.5 for all the world to see (and use !).
Keep reading TechnoBeat for updates on developments in this area. Footnote: PCB Technologies supports all server and desktop operating sytems, and use Linux, NT and Novell extensively, both at clients and internally.
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