From: Ömür YILDI (omuryildiz@ttnet.net.tr)
Date: Thu 07 Mar 2002 - 14:37:27 EET
NEWSWEEK MARCH 11, 2002<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
The Threat of a Linux Generation
Young programmers turned off by Microsoft's antipiracy policies are looking
to alternative software
by john ness and stefan theil
Even computer programMERS can sometimes let their emotions get the better of
them. "If I made a great product, and Microsoft offered me a lot of money,
I would spit in their faces," says Brett Slatkin, a student at Columbia
University in New York. His colleagues roll their eyes and accuse him of
being stuck at the "hippy stage." But when talk turns to the serious
business of programming, they are of one pragmatic mind.
One of the burning issues in computer circles is whether servers-the
fastest-growing segment of the computer business-are going to run Microsoft
software or an alternative, Linux, in the future. Microsoft's selling point
has been its universe of tightly designed software that fits together like a
puzzle, from the basic operating systems that make each computer run to
software that controls networks to programs designed for specific tasks.
But lately Microsoft has been placing more and more restrictions on how its
software can be used. That bothers programmers, who crave the freedom to use
the tools of their trade as they see fit.
Nobody, by contrast, owns Linux-it is "open source," as distinct from
Microsoft's "closed source" software. This means programmers have more
leeway in how they handle any problems that might come up, particularly
those that pertain to security. For this reason, Linux is winning favor
among young computer programmers about to enter the job market, whose
preferences may prove decisive in the coming years.
Linux has recently been making headway in the marketplace. A few years ago,
computer firms IBM, Dell, Compaq and others threw their support behind
Linux, offering to accommodate it in their product lineups and support it
for their customers. Companies were initially slow to make the leap, but in
the past year some big firms, attracted in part by the prospect of saving
money on license fees to Microsoft, have switched. Last OctoberAmazon.com
said it saved $17 million in one quarter, thanks in part to Linux. In
February online broker E*Trade took the plunge and computer-maker Sun
Microsystems bowed to marketplace pressure and said it would offer Linux on
some of its computers. "I dunk everyone is going to use it," says Doctor
Robinson, a programmer at Salomon Smith Barney, which adopted Linux a year
and a half ago. Linux now accounts for 27 percent of server software
worldwide, compared to Microsoft's 42 percent share, says research firm
IDC.
In Germany, Linux is already becoming something of a movement. Whereas
American corporations moved from mainframes to networks of personal-computer
servers back in the 1980s, Europe lagged by a decade. By then, Linux had
been developed into a robust competitor to Windows. European firms embraced
Linux, and the Internet boom provided further impetus. Siemens, Deutsche
Bank and Volkswagen have been using Linux for years-and by last year, says
IDC, 40 percent of German corporations were doing so as well. Last week the
Bundestag, Germany's Parliament, decided to switch its servers to Linux
from Windows. "My wish would be to declare die entire Bundestag a
Microsoft-free zone," said Jorg Tauss, a deputy for the Social Democrats.
It would be irresponsible, he said, to entrust the work of Parliament to
closed-source software.
Computer programmers are quick to point out that they don't impugn the
quality of Microsoft's software. It has some advantages: it is generally
more consistent in quality and easier to install on servers, especially for
inexperienced programmers. Rather, the issue is more one of who controls
the software. If a security loophole, say, is found in a corporate computer
network that uses Linux, the firm's own programmers can fix it themselves.
Microsoft keeps details of its own software so close to its vest that
Windows is opaque to programmers, and they have to rely on Microsoft
technicians to make repairs.
What really has programmers worried are Microsoft's recent steps to prevent
piracy. The firm's new "product activation" policy, rolled out with the
October release of its XP operating system, requires customers to register
Office XP, Windows XP, Project 2002 and other products with the firm's
headquarters in Redmond, Washington. Moving the software to a new computer,
or making significant programming changes, requires reregistering it. And
how's this for intrusive? From time to time, the software checks your
computer's ID to make sure it matches the registration. You might wake up
one day to find that your computer has gone into "reduced functionality
mode"-it won't save or create new documents. Greg Sullivan, product manager
for Windows XP, says that the product-activation policy was designed to be
as unobtrusive as possible and will have negligible affects on anyone who
isn't breaking the law.
Janak Parekh, 24, a Columbia graduate student, is not reassured. What
worries him and many of his colleagues is that Microsoft will continue to
tighten the screws, perhaps going so far as to offer Windows and other
software as services rather than products. "In the past the product was in a
box, and you could take it out and put it on your machine," he says. "If you
wanted, you could take the software off the ma chine and sell it to a
friend. Now Microsoft is taking things to the next degree." Microsoft's
Sullivan wouldn't say whether the company plans to offer software as
services over the Internet. "The whole industry has talked broadly about the
idea," he says.
For now, Microsoft's Windows rules the home. Most consumers merely want
their computers to work and have no appetite for the tedious process of
installing Linux. That may change. Linux hackers from Germany and elsewhere
are working on a Windows-like graphical interface for Linux PCs called KDE
(for K Desktop Environment). They expect to release it this spring-free of
charge.
Microsoft is not taking the threat lying down. It now allows some of its
larger corporate customers to tinker with Windows software. In Berlin,
Microsoft hired a German lobbying firm to sway the Bundestag. In the end,
Microsoft persuaded the Parliament to continue using Windows NE for 5,000
new PCs. But the servers are already in the hands of the enemy.
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