Here is some interesting reading. The Seattle pirates are up to it again! Stephen Dawes B.A. B.Sc. Web Business Office, The City of Calgary PHONE: (403) 268-5527. FAX: (403) 268-6423 E-MAIL ADDRESS: sdawes at gov.calgary.ab.ca -----Original Message----- From: OpenSource@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:OpenSource at bdcimail.com] Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2000 10:21 AM To: sdawes at gov.calgary.ab.ca Subject: NICHOLAS PETRELEY: "The Open Source" from InfoWorld.com, Wednesday, November 29, 2000 ======================================================== NICHOLAS PETRELEY: "The Open Source" InfoWorld.com ======================================================== Wednesday, November 29, 2000 Advertising Sponsor - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - YOU ARE SO READY FOR IBM E-BUSINESS INFRASTRUCTURE IBM and our business partners offer you a comprehensive, secure and scalable e-business infrastructure. Customized. Dependable. With open standards and powerful end-to-end solutions that integrate your systems and processes. Get a complimentary copy of our latest white paper, Computing in an e-business World, by registering at: http://www.ibm.com/e-business/infrastructure/news8 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - OPEN-SOURCE: IT'S WINDOWS' TURN TO PLAY CATCH-UP BEHIND LINUX Posted at November 24, 2000 01:01 PM Pacific WHEN I SWITCHED the topic of my column to address open-source and Linux issues, I looked forward to one thing -- that I wouldn't be compelled to write about Windows very often. Yet here I am writing about that operating system for the third week in a row. Life is funny that way. I don't hate Windows as much as I used to, so its fans can relax some. I suspect the reason I don't hate Windows as much is because I only use it to play games. I'm guessing that if Windows has so easily become irrelevant in my life, it won't be long before it becomes irrelevant to many others. Two weeks ago in my column, I called for Microsoft to open the source code to Windows so we could be certain it didn't have any secret back doors. Most of the people I've heard from on the topic agree. One person insisted that people could be embedding back doors into Linux as well. It is certainly possible. But here's the crucial difference between Windows and Linux. If someone puts a back door into Linux, it will eventually be found; then it can be eliminated, the kernel can be rebuilt, and the program can be running safely again within minutes. With Windows, it is extremely difficult to even verify the existence of the back door. And if by chance a back door can be verified, it is practically impossible to eliminate it yourself because you don't have the source code to rebuild the kernel. Last week I talked about a very cool pro-duct, Win4Lin (http://www.netraverse.com), which allows you to run Windows 95/98 under Linux: You can run Linux but still use company-standard applications such as Office or Outlook. What's cool is Win4Lin seems to cause virtually no performance degradation in Windows or Linux. In fact, Windows seems to run even faster than it does natively. Now I have both good news and bad news about Windows. The good news is people tell me recent versions of Windows are more stable than past versions, and future versions of Windows look even more promising. The bad news is why. According to a source with access to internal Microsoft developers, Microsoft has dedicated resources specifically to the task of analyzing Linux source code and rewriting sections of it for use in Windows. According to my source, it is the adoption and translation of Linux code that is helping Windows become more stable. If this is more than just a rumor, it could mean trouble for Microsoft. I'm not lawyer, but I suspect that this practice may violate the GNU General Public License (GPL) under which Linux is licensed. Depending on how Microsoft is using the code, the company may be required to release some or all of the source code for Windows to avoid violating the provisions of the license. This could also be bad news for Microsoft if an ambitious lawyer smells cash and sniffs out the potential to sue Microsoft for violation of the GPL. Because Microsoft has lots of cash, such a suit would be tempting. Even if no one would take that case, there is still one other reason this is bad news, especially for Windows users. If Windows is improving because its developers depend on the excellence of Linux source code, then one can only conclude that Windows will always be at least one step behind Linux in terms of innovation and quality. Microsoft has squashed competition based on the fact that it has always been able to keep its competitors in the catch-up mode. But if Linux developers are the teachers, and Windows developers are the students, that gives Linux not only the technical advantage but a public perception advantage as well. Nicholas Petreley is the founding editor of LinuxWorld (http://www.linuxworld.com). Reach him at nicholas at petreley.com. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - THE LATEST IN LINUX FROM INFOWORLD: * Red Hat unveils Linux for Alpha - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/00/11/27/001127hncompaqredhat.xml * Microsoft/Intel gossip, iris recognition capture the senses at Comdex - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/00/11/27/001127opcringely.xml * Compaq ships Linux-equipped servers - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/00/11/21/001121hncomlinux.xml - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "If you want to survive you have to be number one or possibly a strong number two. Whoever ends up in third place won't make it." --Mikael Ronstrom, Ericsson technical manager. http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/00/11/24/001124hnfast.xml?p=br&s=10 ?1129weli - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - SUBSCRIBE To subscribe to any of InfoWorld's e-mail newsletters, tell your friends and colleagues to go to: http://www.iwsubscribe.com/newsletters/ To subscribe to InfoWorld.com, or InfoWorld Print, or both, go to http://www.iwsubscribe.com UNSUBSCRIBE If you want to unsubscribe from InfoWorld's Newsletters, go to http://www.iwsubscribe.com/NewsletterEdit CHANGE E-MAIL If you want to change the e-mail address where you are receiving InfoWorld newsletters, go to http://www.iwsubscribe.com/newsletters/EmailChange.htm - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Keeping up with the Joneses? Not if your IT department is lagging behind. Find out why E-business impacts IT and how you can leverage it to your advantage in Barbara Gomolski's new email column: E-Business Matters. Don't miss your weekly read or you might be left behind. To subscribe, go to http://www.iwsubscribe.com/newsletters Advertising Sponsor - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - YOU ARE SO READY FOR IBM E-BUSINESS INFRASTRUCTURE IBM and our business partners offer you a comprehensive, secure and scalable e-business infrastructure. Customized. Dependable. With open standards and powerful end-to-end solutions that integrate your systems and processes. Get a complimentary copy of our latest white paper, Computing in an e-business World, by registering at: http://www.ibm.com/e-business/infrastructure/news8 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Copyright 2000 InfoWorld Media Group Inc.
