LinuxSA Mailing list archives

  From: Lord Ferrox Tutinean <ferrox@hotmail.com>
  To  : <linuxsa@linuxsa.org.au>
  Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2001 22:10:02 +0000

Fwd: RUSSELL PAVLICEK: "The Open Source" from InfoWorld.com, Wednesday, November

                                                             L.Ferrox 
Tutinean



>From: OpenSource@bdcimail.com
>Reply-To: OpenSourceHelp@Bellevue.com
>To: ferrox@hotmail.com
>Subject: RUSSELL PAVLICEK:  "The Open Source"  from InfoWorld.com, 
>Wednesday, November 28, 2001
>Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2001 11:19:50 -0600
>
>========================================================
>RUSSELL PAVLICEK:    "The Open Source"    InfoWorld.com
>========================================================
>
>Wednesday, November 28, 2001
>
>
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>
>
>OPEN-SOURCE ORIGINALS
>
>Posted November 21, 2001 01:01 PM  Pacific Time
>
>
>WHEN I BEGAN writing this column in October, I promised
>myself I would try not to waste time bashing
>Microsoft. There are two reasons for this. First, it's
>like shooting fish in a barrel. With a bazooka. It is
>just too easy. Microsoft does enough things badly that
>there is no challenge in poking at them. Just say
>"Code Red" or "I Love You" and IT managers tremble at
>the memories.
>
>Second, I did not begin using Linux in 1995 because I
>hated Microsoft. I began using Linux because it
>provided me with better functionality on my PC
>desktop. Open source is not merely an ABM (Anything
>But Microsoft) solution. Open source provides some
>excellent solutions that can be evaluated on their own
>merits.
>
>Unfortunately, something happened recently that demands
>I address the relationship between Microsoft and the
>open-source community. It seems that Bill Gates sees
>Microsoft as the chief benefactor of open source. A
>recent Seattle Times article quotes Mr. Gates as
>saying, "Really, the reason you see open source there
>at all is because we came in and said there should be
>a platform that's identical with millions and millions
>of machines."
>
>Really? Many of us older folks in this industry
>remember seeing Bill Gates' name for the first time in
>the now infamous document, "An Open Letter to
>Hobbyists," by William Henry Gates III dated February
>3, 1976. In it, Gates tells the users of Micro-Soft's
>(that is the spelling in the letter) Altair BASIC to
>stop distributing the software without paying for it.
>Mr. Gates accuses the user community of believing
>that, "Hardware must be paid for, but software is
>something to share."
>
>How interesting. Before the birth of the PC, the roots
>of the open-source community were already established.
>In fact, the notion of paying for software was a
>largely new concept to the home computer user
>community.
>
>In 1983, Richard Stallman announced the beginning of
>the GNU Project, his effort to create a free
>Unix-compatible operating system. GNU became the
>foundation of the free software movement, which later
>became the foundation of the open-source movement.
>Stallman's initial efforts had nothing to do with the
>PC at all.
>
>The PC doesn't make a significant appearance in the
>open-source time line until 1991, when Linus Torvalds
>announced a new project to create a Unix-like
>operating system to run on the Intel 80386 platform.
>But the project quickly began to grow past the PC
>architecture, and in 1994 the ports to the DEC Alpha
>platform began. Today, Linux is available on an
>amazing number of platforms. Microsoft, on the other
>hand, has had trouble going much beyond the PC architecture.
>
>Was open source born of the PC? No. Did the spread of
>open source benefit from the creation of a low-cost,
>open architecture PC? Sure. And for that, credit
>should be given where it is due.
>
>Thanks, IBM.
>
>Russell Pavlicek is an independent open-source
>consultant. E-mail him at pavlicek@linuxprofessionalsolutions.com.
>
>
>
>
>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>THE LATEST IN LINUX FROM INFOWORLD:
>
>* San Francisco delivers bill for IBM's Linux love notes
>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/11/27/011127hnlovenote.xml?1128weli
>
>* Red Hat to put Linux on IBM servers
>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/11/27/011127hnredhat.xml?1128weli
>
>* Linux rivalry heats up
>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>http://www.infoworld.com/articles/tc/xml/01/11/26/011126tclinux.xml?1128weli
>
>* Comdex: Linux inches toward acceptance on PDAs
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>http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/11/21/011121hnlinuxpda.xml?1128weli
>
>
>To join, or start, a discussion on this or any IT-related
>topic, please visit our InfoWorld forums at
>http://forums.infoworld.com. Here you can interact and
>exchange ideas with InfoWorld staff and other readers.
>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>QUOTE OF THE DAY:
>
>"Mirror chess can't win, which is why most companies
>that copy the strategies of more successful competitors
>don't succeed."
>
>--"Survival Guide" columnist Bob Lewis.
>
>http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/01/11/26/011126opsurvival.xml?1128weli
>
>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>
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>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>
>Managing Up, Managing Down, and Just Managing
>Business is personal. Take it from Bob Lewis' Survival
>Guide: Getting ahead, getting along, or just getting through
>the day takes more than technical skill or business savvy.
>From technocratic gobble-de-gook to tradeshow gabfests,
>Bob knows what it takes to talk the talk, walk the walk,
>and gawk the gawk. To survive, you have to keep your
>perspective - and your sanity. Bob can help. Subscribe at
>http://www.iwsubscribe.com/newsletters/
>
>
>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>
>Copyright 2001 InfoWorld Media Group Inc.
>
>
>This message was sent to:  ferrox@hotmail.com


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