In Linux we trust?

Software Magazine, Sept, 1998 by Ann Harrison

Many business managers seem content to genuflect toward Redmond and pay allegiance to an NT-centric universe. But IT departments have a subversive plan to wrestle back control of their operating systems. Fed up with the notion of building applications on a proprietary Microsoft OS, corporate developers have been smuggling in Linux, the open source, Unix-like operating system that users can freely download, modify, and share.

"When I started looking at the networking problems that I was having with NT and with Windows', I thought I couldn't make my development schedules," says Eugene Devereaux, who uses Linux to build onboard computer systems and testing tools for the Boeing Co. Devereaux says that by the time management even realizes Linux is running on company workstations, the project is often half over. "So long as it's appealing to the technical workforce," says Devereaux, "I think it's unstoppable."

The Hacker OS

While Linux was initially smuggled in through the back door by rebellious engineers, it's now rapidly gaining acceptance as an enterprise operating system. A survey by the Gartner Group reveals that Linux is in use at 14% of all business sites. It's already the second-fastest growing OS, with an estimated seven million installations, and it's the only operating system in the world not made by Microsoft that's expanding its market share from year to year.

Impressive numbers if you consider that Linux was created a mere seven years ago by a self-effacing 21-year-old native of Finland. Linus Torvalds was then a University of Helsinki student frustrated with the limitations of DOS and too poor to purchase another operating system. Torvalds began experimenting with Minix, a tiny Unix-like OS for 386 machines, which he eventually completely rewrote. In keeping with the hacker tradition, Torvalds posted his kernel to the university's Server--thus making it available for peer review and modification.

Before long, other hackers around the world began downloading Torvalds' source code and Sending back their improvements. Thousands of volunteer programmers eventually pitched in to refine the kernel, which was later combined with large portions of a free OS called GNU and dubbed Linux. Much of Linux's success is due to Torvalds' skill in recognizing good ideas and making contributors feel appreciated. He eventually copyrighted Linux under the GPL license, which means that anyone could sell a version of Linux, but the source code or any changes or improvements must remain public.

Linux enthusiasts point out that this collaborative development project has produced a particularly stable and reliable operating system. Unlike proprietary software whose vendors reveal only the binaries--machine language versions of executable programs--open source software (OSS) like Linux allows users to see the source code, enabling them to repair flaws and customize the program. Fans of OSS point out that with so many people scrutinizing the code, bugs are located, fixes are created, and features are allowed to evolve much more rapidly.

"We offer a price performance benefit that Microsoft users can only dream about, but the benefit of the model is not actually the price," says Bob Young, president and CEO of Red Hat Software Inc., one of several companies which offer free Linux downloads. Young argues that anytime a corporation has an application that requires a fair amount of engineering, access to the binary is not enough. "If there are some inconsistencies in how the application interfaces against the OS, they have no way of fixing it because they have bought a car with the hood welded shut."

Linux is now running everywhere from 3COM's handheld PalmPilot computer, to the Los Alamos National Laboratories, which used 68 Digital Equipment alpha processors to build a Linux-based super computer that cost only $150,000, yet in benchmarks performed more than 19 billion operations per second. Linux has even gone Hollywood, handling all the special effects renderings for the movie Titanic.

In addition to Boeing, Linux is also being quietly used by organizations as diverse as Sony Development Corp., Mercedes Benz, Southwestern Bell, NASA, and the FBI. The relative lack of enterprise and personal productivity applications has slowed down the acceptance of Linux in enterprise environments. But a turning point came in July when Oracle, Informix, and Netscape announced they were all porting server products to Linux.

Torvalds now works for a California chip design company where he is laboring on Version 2.2 of the Linux kernel. He surfaces at various locations around the world to conduct "World Domination 101" seminars attended by the Linux faithful, who are determined to revolutionize the way software is built, licensed, and supported.

Difficult Decisions

Eric Raymond, an early proponent of open source development, (see sidebar, "Follow the Money," pg. 40) has become an ambassador of sorts for the acceptance of Linux in corporate environments. When asked why he has taken on this mission, he dispenses with marketing niceties. "Because closed software sucks," says Raymond. "It's painful knowing that there are lots of people out there who are used to an astonishingly low level of quality and reliability of software and furthermore have been brainwashed into accepting this as normal."