Interesting idea: 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, January 17, 2001 10:40 AM To: sdawes at gov.calgary.ab.ca Subject: NICHOLAS PETRELEY: "The Open Source" from InfoWorld.com, Wednesday, January 17, 2001 ======================================================== NICHOLAS PETRELEY: "The Open Source" InfoWorld.com ======================================================== Wednesday, January 17, 2001 Advertising Sponsor - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The Talent You Want Is Working With Us. InfoWorld and InfoWorld.com are critical tools for today's technical talent. Our new career service, ITcareers.com is where hi-tech talent looks for new and better opportunities. We're the right tool for you and the people you want to hire. Plus, we're priced for value. $200 for a thirty-day posting. You can be up today. Come on over. Check us out. https://www.swiftadsonline.com/itworld.htm Or forward this to your recruiting team. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - PERSUADING AMD AND INTEL TO FIGHT OVER OPEN SOURCE THIS YEAR Posted at January 12, 2001 01:01 PM Pacific I SPENT MY YOUTH during the pop psychology age of I'm OK, You're OK, a book by Thomas Harris that helped popularize something called transactional analysis. One of my favorite authors of the genre was Dr. Eric Berne, who wrote an interesting book called Games People Play. I'm about to play one of the games Berne identified as "Let's you and him fight," a game in which you ignite a conflict between others and then sit back and watch with glee as they battle it out. My contestants are AMD and Intel. I'd love to watch these chipmeisters wage war. The catalyst for the fight is some advice I'd like to offer on how each of these competitors might leverage open source in an attempt to beat the other. The operative word here is "attempt." Ideally, I wouldn't want either company to actually beat the other for any extended period, because ongoing heated competition keeps prices low and performance high. Here's the advice: Go for broke and invest heavily in open source. Devote as many resources as possible to tune the optimizations in the GNU compilers to produce code that runs best with your chips. Then post benchmarks demonstrating how much faster Linux and the various BSDs run when you rebuild them using these optimizations and run them on your AMD or Intel hardware. If possible, convince commercial Linux and BSD distributors to offer versions of their products optimized specifically for your chips. Better yet, rebuild a handful of distributions yourself and then offer the CD-ROM images free for the download. You'll have to rebuild all of the applications, not just the kernel, to make this strategy worthwhile. Most important, do it now because all of the external factors are aligning perfectly for this move to work. In the first place, open source is about to get a big boost because the dot-com economy is tanking. It may sound counterintuitive, but open-source guru Bruce Perens was right when he said a slow economy presents the best opportunities for open source because companies turn to free software when they no longer have money to burn. The dot-coms aren't floundering because there aren't opportunities. They're floundering because they got spoiled on the irrational exuberance of investors and spent money foolishly. Open source can benefit from the lessons in frugality these companies now have to learn. Second, Linux and possibly the BSDs will get a lot more attention and updates this year. The long-awaited Linux 2.4 kernel was just released, and minor kernel updates are sure to follow quickly. Watch for a flood of new versions as the commercial distributors line up to get their versions of Linux with the 2.4 kernel out the door. Expect a second round of bug fixes to be distributed later this year. Shoot for that round of updates. If you can finish and test your compiler optimizations by midyear, you'll be perfectly positioned to flaunt benchmarks at the fall Linux trade shows. Make a compelling pitch to buy and use your hardware to get the best performance from the latest versions of Linux and the BSDs. Finally, do it now because you can. This strategy would be unthinkable with Windows, because nobody's free to rebuild the Windows 2000 operating system with special optimizations and offer the optimized version for free. To get started with Linux, submit patches to GCC (for more information about the GNU compiler collection, visit http://www.gnu.org/software/gcc/gcc.html). Admit it. It's a compelling strategy. Now, let's you and him fight. 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: * Linux system management package is set - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/01/16/010116hnvolution.xml * LG debuts Linux tablet PC - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/01/16/010116hnlgelec.xml - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Much as we're seeing that consumers browse more than they buy online, business-to-business efforts are finding that electronic procurement needs to be complemented with a range of other capabilities that cement the b-to-b relationship." --InfoWorld executive news editor Martin LaMonica on the importance of value-added services to an e-procurement strategy. http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/01/01/15/010115opnewsdesk.xml?0117w eli - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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://iwsubscribe.com/newsletters/unsubscribe/ CHANGE E-MAIL If you want to change the e-mail address where you are receiving InfoWorld newsletters, go to http://iwsubscribe.com/newsletters/adchange/ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If your network's not secure, you're toast. Get practical advice on how to run a tight ship with InfoWorld's security gurus Stuart McClure and Joel Scambray, in the e-mail version of this hands-on, technically oriented weekly column. Subscribe now to SECURITY WATCH, or any of InfoWorld's e-mail Newsletters. Go to: http://www.iwsubscribe.com/newsletters Advertising Sponsor - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The Talent You Want Is Working With Us. InfoWorld and InfoWorld.com are critical tools for today's technical talent. Our new career service, ITcareers.com is where hi-tech talent looks for new and better opportunities. We're the right tool for you and the people you want to hire. Plus, we're priced for value. $200 for a thirty-day posting. You can be up today. Come on over. Check us out. https://www.swiftadsonline.com/itworld.htm Or forward this to your recruiting team. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Copyright 2001 InfoWorld Media Group Inc.
