MS Word & MS FrontPage can let hackers into your hard drive. (StarHeart Web Designs uses Corel's WordPerfect
& Symantec's Visual Page.)
There are few Apple software programs for professional Astrologers.
Most viruses target Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook Express, etc), so
get Corel's WordPerfect Suite. Since the recent viruses target programs using the Windows operating system, consider
how safer you'd be using Unix or Red Hat Linux for your operating system.
In 1991, Linus Torvalds was a 21-year-old computer science student at the University of Helsinki
when he decided to write a version of the Unix operating system for his IBM-compatible personal computer. It was
a project sparked by his dislike of Microsoft's DOS software and his desire to create an operating system -- the
software that controls basic computer functions -- that was stable and reliable.
The operating system that he invented is now known as Linux (the name is a combination of Linus and Unix).
And Linux's use has skyrocketed over the last few years, particularly for powerful computers, known as servers,
that store and transmit Web pages.
International Data Corp., a market research firm, estimated that Linux made up about 16 percent of all operating
system shipments last year. But that figure fails to fully describe Linux' growth because many copies of the program
are simply downloaded for free off the Internet.
Little did Torvalds know that his project would become such a milestone moment in the "open source" movement,
whose goal is to create free software available to anyone worldwide. As Linux' popularity has grown, it has become
one of the few challengers to the dominance of Microsoft's Windows operating system.
Torvalds, a soft-spoken and down-to-earth engineer, has become one of the luminaries of the Internet because of
Linux and his steady hand in guiding the continuing development of the program.
He left his native Finland in 1997 to work at Transmeta, a secretive Silicon Valley chip-design start-up partially
funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
Torvalds was interviewed Nov. 29 while he was in Los Angeles to speak at the University of Southern California
at the WebRush II conference on wireless technology.
QUESTION: What is the project you are working on at Transmeta?
ANSWER: We've been very, very secretive, and I can't tell you much about what we're doing. We did open up to the
degree that we announced when we will start talking about what we're doing. The exact date is like Jan. 19.
We think we're doing something that no one has ever done before, so we are ... trying to keep the technology end
of it silent until we're ready to release. Right now, we only tell three facts: We're doing a CPU (central processing
unit, the brains of a computer). It's based on a strong software component. And it's especially for mobile markets.
The code name is Crusoe. Like Robinson Crusoe.
Q: Is that a hint?
A: No, I think the name was mainly an issue of having something that was recognizable and easily remembered. It's
a low-power CPU and that's about all I can say.
Q: After creating Linux, which has become such an icon of the movement to create free, open software, how does
it feel to work for such a secretive company?
A: For me, open source hasn't been a philosophy per se. It hasn't been a goal in itself. I think that open source
is a very solid means to reach other goals. There is an ideological point to it as well, but that is ... an added
bonus. I'm an engineer who really likes the notion of open source. But I never had any philosophical problems with
working with a company that is very tight-lipped. Linux is what I do for fun. It's what I do because I think it's
important. It's what I do because I just love working on computers. When I do something for fun, I think it's important
to share with others and make that part of the fun. At the same time, when I do something for work, that's my work.
I think open source is a very good medium for doing certain things. At the same time, it's very clear that it's
sometimes easier to do things in a closed area. So you kind of have to balance the advantages of open source vs.
the advantages of being closed. I'm actually hoping that a lot of what Transmeta is doing will eventually be sent
back to the open-source community.
Q: With your job at Transmeta, what is your role these days in developing Linux?
A: Most of what I do today is communications. I mean 95 percent of my Linux work is really reading e-mail, answering
e-mail (and) talking to people. ... Quite often, it's just arbitration -- getting the right people together and
if there are clashes, trying to decide who gets to go first. I'm kind of like an independent technical person who
pretty much everyone trusts, which is something important to have. That's one of the reasons why I haven't wanted
to work for a Linux company, just because that way it wouldn't polarize the market.
Q: How much time do you spend on Linux now?
A: A lot of time. I tend to work fairly long hours. Just reading e-mail basically takes three hours a day. I mean
that's just reading e-mail. And then, if you actually want to do something about that e-mail, then the time is
just unbounded!
Q: Will you always be involved in Linux?
A: It's been an intensely satisfying experience. It's been satisfying on a technical level, but it's also been
satisfying on the personal level, just feeling that you accomplished something and being part of a community. But
I probably won't work on Linux forever. Especially now, it's clear even to outsiders that it's much, much larger
than this one person. ... These days it's clear that people are getting much more comfortable and at some point,
who knows, five, 10 years from now. ... It's just clear that I don't have that much to bring to the table anymore.
Q: What do you think about the commercialization of Linux by companies like Red Hat and Caldera?
A: I've been very happy with what's happened commercially because it turns out that commercial Linux vendors are
not interested at all in the same things that I and typical developers are interested in. And they fill a real
need. It's very clear that when I look at how it was before the commercial people got involved, Linux was much
more unbalanced. It was great technology, but at the same time it was too much of being just technology. With the
vendors coming in, suddenly it becomes much more of a whole product.
Q: Have you financially benefited from the success of Linux?
A: Not really. Some of the early (Linux) vendors actually sent me some checks just to show their gratitude and
someone calculated that I had an hourly wage of about 5 cents an hour. Even though I didn't benefit financially
from Linux itself, the kind of indirect benefits were good. I mean how many people fresh out of school can basically
select what place they go to work? I (also) got some stock options from some companies. It's noticeable, but it's
not that much. It's just at the point where we're finally considering buying a house. In Silicon Valley, that's
actually a big deal.
Q: Do you regret making Linux open source?
A: The fact is that if I hadn't made it open source, if I hadn't done it like I did, Linux wouldn't be where it
is today and so I wouldn't be rich anyway! I would probably be very upset if it wasn't for the fact that I get
more credit than I probably deserve, right? There's been thousands of people working on Linux, and I get credit
for a lot of it.
Q: What did you think about U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's findings that Microsoft is a monopoly?
A: I was actually surprised by the findings of fact. I mean I was surprised by just the length of it and I was
also surprised by the fact that it was very readable English. It's actually worth reading!
The single biggest positive thing I've seen is that people are ... aware of the fact that Bill Gates may be the
richest man on the Earth, but it's not really the American Dream. Before the lawsuit started, a lot of people in
the technical sector were upset about Microsoft, but your average person on the street didn't know and didn't care,
not because they condoned bad business practices, but because they just weren't aware of alternatives. It's been
great PR for Linux. I don't like Microsoft's way of doing business. It's not that they're evil; it's just what
happens when you grow big.
by Mark Finkle, system administrator, Special to ZDNet, Nov 29, 1999
Linux is not currently a threat to the Windows platform. Unless a vast number
of applications are either written or ported to Linux it'll be nothing more than a small niche competitor to Microsoft.
Linux could in its current stages compete against NT and Exchange. It's far more capable and stable. From a systems
administration standpoint it's much easier to deal with than NT. The GUI in NT is much too limiting for complex
installations.
The facts are simple:
The Red Hat distribution (currently by far the leader in end user distribution) is horrible compared to other distributions.
The layout defies ease of compilation of many open source programs. Their insistence on placing added binaries
in /usr/bin as opposed to /usr/local/bin and added libraries in /usr/lib rather than /usr/local/lib does complicate
installations of a large number of open source programs. I was successful in installing those applications but
I've been using Unix over 20 years. Most required modification of the Makefile and/or header files. Easy for a
typical end user? I think not.
Overall Linux development is very fragmented. Until this is pulled together
into a single effort there will be no chance of creating a unified distribution. Without a unified distribution,
standards are difficult to maintain. If they were to succeed in doing this then there would be costs associated
with distribution. How many of the hard core Linux people would be willing to pay?
Contrary to popular belief among the Linux enthusiasts, Linux is not easy for an average user. Most X window managers
are cumbersome and difficult for the average user.
The majority of Unix commands are difficult at best for the average person. They have a difficult enough time with
a DOS prompt. Unfortunately some configuration does require shell access and does expose the user to the shell.
Until this is fixed Windows will be the favored choice among the masses.
Hardware support for Linux is very limited. Manufacturers always release Windows drivers with their products. Those
drivers are typically easy to install. Many Linux drivers would require a recompilation of the kernel to support
new products. So, anyone that wants to stay leading edge with new products would have to become an expert. Not
likely to happen.
There was one comment in this thread that did get a chuckle from me. They complained the GUI utilities in Red Hat
simply rewrote text files. From a debugging standpoint a text file is much easier for humans to read and understand.
The Windows registry has to be the single most idiotic idea in operating system history. It's not easily human
readable, subject to corruption. It's difficult to repair if it does become corrupt and nearly impossible if the
corruption prevents the GUI from starting. It's insane to centralize configuration of all programs. Typically Unix
applications store their configuration in an easily identifiable file or directory. But Microsoft is an arrogant
company, they feel they know much more than a platform that has been maturing for over 30 years.
Overall Linux and other Unix flavors are far more capable than anything that Microsoft produces. Imagine Windows
trying to execute hundreds of applications, even NT isn't up to that task. Hundreds of simultaneous connections
are also a huge stretch for NT. This is done every day by many Unix systems around the world.
Unix does lose most of the edge of running a large number of programs in the X environment. In many cases X applications
are just as bloated as their Windows counterparts.
My company uses Solaris for nearly everything except workstations. We had planned to fully standardize on either
Linux or Solaris for the workstations as well. The plan was deemed impossible due to lack of sufficient software
for either platform. One of the needs has been met with Star Office from Sun, but we're still coming up short on
other software. Accounting software was the primary reason for remaining with Windows on the workstations.
Myself, I wouldn't hesitate eliminating Windows from all our systems. I am pro alternatives and hope Linux does
well. I hope more large development companies do jump on this bandwagon, it'll offer options and fuel growth in
the entire industry. I do however strongly favor FreeBSD and Solaris over Linux.
The new Intel Timna chip will support PCs that run Windows as well as appliance devices that run Linux.
US Gov't Builds Monster
Linux Computer
November 17, 1999
by Charles Babcock, Inter@ctive Week
The Department of Energy's Argonne National Lab has built its largest supercomputer system ever - a 256-node cluster
that is to be based on Intel hardware and the Linux operating system.
Dubbed Chiba City for the futuristic city described in William Gibson's novel
Neuromancer, the cluster will be open for use by researchers at other national labs,
universities and even U.S. industry. Each node in the cluster is to be a dual processor server from VA Linux Systems,
giving the cluster a total of 512 central processing units. IBM Netfinity servers will provide cluster management,
file storage and data visualization
capabilities.
Consultants from both IBM and VA Linux Systems' new consulting unit helped the lab in
constructing the supercomputer, spokesmen for the two companies said.
Remy Evard, advanced computing manager at Argonne's computer science unit, said the
two-day cooperative "barn raising" event used to build the supercomputer involved 50
Argonne scientists. The availability of tools for working with Linux and other examples of
open source code makes it possible for many different participants to contribute to such a
large scale project, Evard added.
Larry Augustin, president of VA Linux Systems, said Chiba City represents "a milestone in large-scale Linux
systems design" and illustrates a software product that VA Linux has been working on practically since the
company was formed, the VA Cluster Manager.
Chiba City is being demonstrated at Supercomputing '99, a supercomputing conference in Portland, Ore. Clusters
typically require an interconnect or high-speed network to tie their nodes together, and VA Linux certified new
high performance drivers for Linux to run on Gigabit Ethernet cards installed in each node.
