FW: NICHOLAS PETRELEY: "The Open Source" from InfoWorld.com, Wednesday, November 29, 2000

Wed Nov 29 15:48:50 EST 2000

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

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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

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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.

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THE LATEST IN LINUX FROM INFOWORLD:

* Red Hat unveils Linux for Alpha
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http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/00/11/27/001127hncompaqredhat.xml

* Microsoft/Intel gossip, iris recognition capture the senses at Comdex
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http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/00/11/27/001127opcringely.xml

* Compaq ships Linux-equipped servers
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http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/00/11/21/001121hncomlinux.xml

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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

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standards and powerful end-to-end solutions that
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Computing in an e-business World, by registering at:
http://www.ibm.com/e-business/infrastructure/news8

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